NCD Watch

【Alcohol Fails】Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Enjoy Alcohol-free Festive Celebrations

21 Dec 2020 (Mon)

Alcohol causes cancer. Joyful festival is coming. You can still raise a toast and have a great time choosing non-alcoholic beverages in festive celebrations.

• Alcohol significantly impairs brain function, self-control ability, judgement, body coordination and balance, etc. Drinking to excess, even on one occasion, can result in misbehaviours, imposing harms to self and others.
• Binge drinking increases the immediate risk of alcoholic poisoning, accidental injury, interpersonal violence, road traffic injuries and risk-taking behaviours such as unprotected sex. Binge drinkers may experience hangover (such as fatigue, headache) after a night of heavy drinking, impairing work performance, leading to absenteeism or low productivity at work, etc.
• The International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization has classified alcohol as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1), the same category as tobacco smoke, ionising radiation and asbestos, causing cancers of oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus, liver, colorectum, and female breasts. The risks of these cancers rise with increasing alcohol use. Of note, alcohol’s carcinogenic effect is independent of the type of alcoholic beverages. In other words, the carcinogenic effect is the same for beer, wine or spirits.