Health
6 tips to reduce alcohol use and cancer risk after surgeon general's warning
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy warned in a recent advisory about alcohol use increasing cancer risk.
The advisory notes that alcohol can increase the risk of throat, liver, esophageal, mouth, larynx (voice box), colon and rectal cancers, making it the “third leading preventable cause of cancer” in the U.S.
This guidance follows the rise of the “sober curious” trend, with younger generations scaling back on how much they drink or choosing not to partake at all.
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For those who are interested in curbing their alcohol use, here are six tips on how to do so safely.
The surgeon general’s advisory noted that alcohol-related cancer deaths even occurred in some moderate drinkers. (iStock)
1. Analyze your alcohol dependence
Alcohol is “one of the most serious substances” when it comes to detoxification, sometimes requiring medical hospitalization to manage withdrawal symptoms, according to Dr. Chris Tuell, clinical director at the Lindner Center of HOPE in Mason, Ohio.
“If you are one of the 40% of Americans who is trying to stop alcohol use, sometimes it may be necessary to seek counseling services.”
Tuell, who is also an associate professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, recommended speaking to a primary care physician before discontinuing years of extreme alcohol use.
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Dr. Adi Jaffe, PhD, CEO of addiction recovery platform IGNTD in Los Angeles, noted that in some cases, it may be “medically inadvisable to just quit” if alcohol dependence is severe.
People who drink heavily, or consume five to seven drinks a day, should consult their doctor before quitting, one addiction specialist recommended. (iStock)
“You must consult with a medical professional before stopping,” said Jaffe, author of the book “Unhooked.” “This is especially true if you get tremors, shaking or sweatiness when you don’t drink, even for a day or two.”
“Those are markers of somebody who’s more likely to have a grand mal seizure if they just stop cold turkey.”
2. Set clear goals and track patterns
For people who haven’t had a “necessarily problematic” relationship with alcohol and are just looking to cut back, Tuell recommended setting clear goals to get there.
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“With any behaviors that you plan to change, what are clear, realistic and specific goals on how much or how often you plan to drink?” he asked.
“Perhaps you have the goal of only drinking on weekends, or perhaps you limit the amount of alcohol to two drinks per occasion.”
Writing down your drinking behaviors can help identify triggers, experts say. (iStock)
Tuell suggested tracking your drinking by keeping a journal of when, where and how much you drink.
“This helps to identify patterns or triggers that may be associated with your mood, such as work stress or family stress and anxieties,” he said.
Planning alcohol-free days and then gradually increasing the number of those days each week can be effective, the expert added.
3. Avoid triggers and find alternatives
After tracking when, where and how much you drink, it may become clear what triggers you to drink.
Tuell encouraged identifying these situations, emotions and behaviors and finding alternative ways to handle them.
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“These triggers will frequently lead to behaviors that give us relief and/or a reward, and many times it is not a healthy way of coping,” he said.
“Choose non-alcoholic beverages in social settings … like sparkling water, mocktails or herbal teas, to satisfy the habit of having a drink … or avoid places where heavy drinking occurs.”
Social pressure to drink can pose a major temptation, according to experts. (iStock)
Jaffe commented that focusing on less drinking won’t be as effective as drinking something else, like a non-alcoholic drink, or doing a different activity instead.
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Tuell agreed that finding a healthier alternative to bad behaviors is a good way to stop them.
This could include stress-relieving practices like exercising, reading, journaling or spending more time with supportive friends.
Adding movement as a replacement for drinking can help curb bad habits. (iStock)
Movement, mindfulness exercises and meditation can also be helpful practices throughout the day, according to Jaffe.
“You can do those practices while you’re brushing your teeth or while you’re making your coffee,” he said. “Meditation practices as short as five or 10 minutes can have an incredible impact on your stress response in life.”
4. Change your environment
Removing temptations from your environment is a good way to prevent reaching for them, according to experts.
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Tuell suggested removing alcohol from your home or limiting activities that make it more accessible, such as hanging out at bars.
“Smell is the strongest of the five senses connected to memory,” he added.
Jaffe agreed that environment “plays a massive role” in how people interact with alcohol.
“If you’re looking to reduce your drinking … having other people who are participating in the journey with you will go a long way toward helping you meet your goals of reduction.”
5. Practice saying ‘no’ and surround yourself with support
The social pressures of drinking can be a trigger, but learning to say “no” is powerful. Tuell recommended being prepared with a “polite but firm” response in situations where you might feel pressured to drink.
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This can be as simple as, “No, thanks, I’m taking a break from drinking” or “I’m good, thanks.”
Tuell advises surrounding yourself with supportive individuals, like trusted friends or family members with whom you can share your goals.
Experts recommend surrounding yourself with supportive individuals with whom you can share your goals. (iStock)
He also suggested joining a support group, “like Alcoholics Anonymous, SMART Recovery, Celebrate Recovery or Women for Sobriety.”
“If you are one of the 40% of Americans who is trying to stop alcohol use, sometimes it may be necessary to seek counseling services.”
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Tuell also mentioned that methods like cognitive behavioral therapy can be effective.
6. Be kind to yourself
Reflecting on the reasons you’re looking to reduce alcohol intake — whether it’s to improve your health, save money, strengthen relationships or another motivating factor — can help keep you on the right path, according to Tuell.
“Setbacks are normal. So be kind to yourself and focus on progress, not perfection.”
He also encouraged celebrating milestones by enjoying something non-alcohol-related, such as a massage, a round of golf, a shopping trip or another fun outing.
“To make changes, it takes time,” Tuell said. “Setbacks are normal. So be kind to yourself and focus on progress, not perfection.”
“If you keep moving forward one step at a time, you will get to a point where you’re drinking substantially less.” (iStock)
While about 40% of people quit their New Year’s resolutions before the end of January, according to Jaffe, the specialist said it’s important to not be discouraged by slip-ups.
“Learn from it and just keep going,” he advised.
“If you keep moving forward one step at a time, you will get to a point where you’re drinking substantially less.”
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Eating too much salt has long been linked to high blood pressure, but new research suggests it could trick the immune system into prematurely aging the blood vessels.
A preclinical study recently published in the Journal of the American Heart Association has identified a biological chain reaction that links a salty diet to cardiovascular decay.
Scientists at the University of South Alabama observed that mice on a high-salt diet experienced rapid deterioration in their blood vessel function.
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After just four weeks of high sodium intake, the small arteries responsible for regulating blood flow lost their ability to relax, according to a press release.
The team found that the cells lining these vessels had entered a state of cellular senescence, a form of premature cellular aging in which cells stop dividing and release a mix of inflammatory signals that can damage surrounding tissue.
Excess salt has long been linked to high blood pressure, but a new study goes deeper into its effects on the cardiovascular system. (iStock)
The researchers tried to replicate this damage by exposing blood vessel cells directly to salt in a laboratory dish, but the cells showed no harmful effects.
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This suggests that salt isn’t directly causing damage to the vascular lining but that the real culprit may be the body’s own defense mechanism, the researchers noted.
Excess salt may trigger the immune system to release a molecule called interleukin-16 (IL-16), which acts as a messenger that instructs blood vessel cells to grow old before their time, according to the study.
Excess salt may trigger the immune system to release a molecule called interleukin-16, which acts as a messenger that instructs blood vessel cells to grow old before their time, according to the study. (iStock)
Once these cells age, they fail to produce nitric oxide, the essential gas that tells arteries to dilate and stay flexible.
To test whether this process could be reversed, the team turned to a class of experimental drugs known as senolytics.
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Using a cancer medication called navitoclax, which selectively clears out aged and dysfunctional cells, the researchers were able to restore nearly normal blood vessel function in the salt-fed mice, the release stated.
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By removing the decaying cells created by the high-salt diet, the drug allowed the remaining healthy tissue to maintain its elasticity and respond correctly to blood flow demands.
Excess salt may trigger the immune system into stopping the cells from dividing, the study suggests. (iStock)
The study did have some limitations. The transition from mouse models to human treatment remains a significant hurdle, the team cautioned.
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Senolytic drugs like navitoclax are still being studied for safety, and the team emphasized that previous trials have shown mixed results regarding their impact on artery plaque.
Additionally, the researchers have not yet confirmed whether the same IL-16 pathway is the primary driver of vascular aging in humans.
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Eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables was found to have a surprising link to lung cancer among younger non-smokers, early research suggests.
The observational study, led by Jorge Nieva, M.D., of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center at Keck Medicine, was presented this month at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting in San Diego. It has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Researchers looked at dietary, smoking and demographic data for 187 patients who were diagnosed with lung cancer at age 50 or younger.
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They found that among non-smokers, there was a link between healthier-than-average diets – rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains – and the chance of lung cancer development.
Young lung cancer patients ate more servings of dark green vegetables, legumes and whole grains compared to the average U.S. adult, the researchers found.
Eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables was found to have a surprising link to lung cancer among younger non-smokers, early research suggests. (iStock)
The researchers hypothesized that pesticides applied to conventionally grown produce could be a possible factor in the disease association.
“Commercially produced (non-organic) fruits, vegetables and whole grains are more likely to be associated with a higher residue of pesticides than dairy, meat and many processed foods,” according to Nieva. He also noted that agricultural workers exposed to pesticides tend to have higher rates of lung cancer.
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“There is a large subset of lung cancer patients whose disease is not caused by smoking,” Nieva told Fox News Digital.
The disease is becoming more common in non-smokers 50 and younger, especially women – despite the fact that smoking rates have been falling for decades, the researcher noted.
The researchers hypothesized that pesticides applied to conventionally grown produce could be a possible factor in the disease association. (iStock)
“These patients tend to have eaten much healthier diets before their diagnosis than the average American,” he went on. “We need to support research into understanding why Americans – and women in particular – who no longer smoke very much are still having lung cancer,” he said.
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The study did have some limitations, Nieva acknowledged, primarily that it relied on survey data and was limited by the participants’ memories of their food intake.
“Also, the survey participants were self-selected, and this could have biased the findings,” he told Fox News Digital.
“There is a large subset of lung cancer patients whose disease is not caused by smoking.”
The researchers did not test specific foods for pesticides, relying instead on average pesticide levels for certain types of food. Looking ahead, they plan to test patients’ blood and urine samples to directly measure pesticide levels, Nieva said.
Although the study shows only an association and does not prove that pesticides caused lung cancer, Nieva recommends that people wash their produce before eating and choose organic foods whenever possible.
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“This work represents a critical step toward identifying modifiable environmental factors that may contribute to lung cancer in young adults,” said Nieva. “Our hope is that these insights can guide both public health recommendations and future investigation into lung cancer prevention.”
“It is possible that the increased lung cancer risk could be due to pesticide exposure in whole farmed foods, but is by no means certain,” a doctor said. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, said the study is “interesting,” but that it “raises far more questions than it answers.”
“It is a small study (around 150) and observational, so no proof,” the doctor, who was not involved in the research, told Fox News Digital.
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“It is possible that the increased lung cancer risk could be due to pesticide exposure in whole farmed foods, but it is by no means certain,” Siegel went on. “How much exposure is needed? How much of it gets into food and in which areas? This requires much further study.”
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Kayla Nichols, communications director for Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network, a distributed global network, said the organization agrees with the study’s conclusion that more research should be done on the rise in lung cancer, particularly in individuals eating diets higher in produce and fiber.
“There is a large subset of lung cancer patients whose disease is not caused by smoking,” the researcher told Fox News Digital. (iStock)
“There is a bounty of existing research that already links pesticide exposure to increased risk of multiple types of cancers,” Nichols, who was also not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital. She called for more research on chronic, low-level exposures to pesticides, as well as more effective policies to protect the public from pesticide residues on food.
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The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, as well as industry partners including AstraZeneca and Genentech, among others.
Fox News Digital reached out to several pesticide companies and trade groups for comment.
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