A note from the land of long ago

From here.

I'm not sure which is more disturbing, a man drinking a bottle of bed bug poison thinking it was rum, or a doctor prescribing a bath of New England rum as a cure for what ails you. 

Surgeon General: Alcohol use causes cancer

Alcoholic drinks should carry cancer risk warning labels, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said in a report Friday.

The report cites a direct link between alcohol consumption and at least seven types of cancer, including of the breast, colorectal, liver and mouth. An estimated 16.4% of total breast cancer cases are linked to drinking alcohol.

There are about 100,000 alcohol-related cancer cases and about 20,000 alcohol-related cancer deaths in the U.S. each year, the report found. Alcohol is the third-leading cause of cancer in the U.S., after tobacco and obesity.

While research has shown a link between alcohol and cancer, “the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk,” Murthy said in a statement.

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10% of Americans Drink Half of All Booze Consumed Annually

Do you drink a glass of wine with dinner every night? That puts you in the top 30 percent of American adults in terms of per-capita alcohol consumption. If you drink two glasses, that would put you in the top 20 percent.

But in order to break into the top 10 percent of American drinkers, you would need to drink more than two bottles of wine with every dinner. And you'd still be below-average among those top 10 percenters.

The top 10 percent of American drinkers - 24 million adults over age 18 - consume, on average, 74 alcoholic drinks per week. That works out to a little more than four-and-a-half 750 ml bottles of Jack Daniels, 18 bottles of wine, or three 24-can cases of beer. In one week.

Or, if you prefer, 10 drinks per day.

Read the rest here.