October is Liver Cancer Awareness Month, a month dedicated to the education and awareness of liver cancer, as well as ways to prevent it. This year, nearly 40,000 Americans will be diagnosed with liver cancer and roughly 29,000 will die from the disease. Education on this prevalent and deadly disease is essential to proactively fight against it.
Though many people know alcohol is one of the major causes of liver cancer, most do not know the liver’s role in the body. The liver is one of the largest organs in the human body. Its job is to filter harmful substances from the blood, produce bile, which aids digestion, and stores sugar the body later uses for energy. Because of the liver’s crucial role in filtering toxins from the body, alcohol can have detrimental effects on the liver’s long-term health.
Alcohol consumption is the primary cause of liver cancer. In recent studies, research shows alcohol, when metabolized in the body, produces a toxic chemical, which has carcinogenic (or cancer-causing) properties. Alcohol also impairs the body’s ability to break down and absorb a variety of nutrients associated with cancer risks, such as vitamin A, C, D, and E, and nutrients in the vitamin B complex. Alcoholic beverages may also contain a variety of cancer-causing contaminants introduced during the fermentation process. It is essential to limit your consumption of alcohol, and be careful not mix alcohol and tobacco as this dramatically increases the risk of cancer.
If you or a loved one is struggling with alcohol abuse, it is especially important to get help because of the increased risk of liver cancer. Call us today at (888)507-1355 for a free, confidential, and over-the-phone addiction assessment. Our trained treatment specialists are ready to walk with you on the road to sobriety with a custom treatment plan suited for your unique needs.
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
