Alcohol and Cancer

You may be surprised to find out that drinking alcohol increases your risk of head and neck, breast, stomach, pancreatic, colorectal and liver cancers.

Research shows that drinking any type of alcohol – beer, wine or spirits – raises your risk of cancer. The less alcohol you drink, the more you reduce your risk.

Canadian Cancer Society's Recommendation

If you choose to drink alcohol, keep it to less than 1 drink a day for women and less than 2 drinks a day for men. Don’t smoke. Tobacco and alcohol together are worse for you than either on its own.

How much is 1 drink?

A drink is:

one 341 mL (12 oz) bottle of beer (5% alcohol)
one 142 mL (5 oz) glass of wine (12% alcohol)
one 43 mL (1.5 oz) shot of spirits (40% alcohol)

The link between alcohol and cancer

View the infographic

Achieve your health goals by going Dry this Feb

Dry Feb is a fundraiser that challenges you to go alcohol-free in February to raise funds for the Canadian Cancer Society. It helps you get healthy, while raising funds for an important cause - it's a win-win. Sign up today!

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This article has been republished with permission from the Canadian Cancer Society's website.