Nearly half of all cancers could be prevented through healthy lifestyle choices. More and more evidence suggests that limiting alcohol intake is an important choice to make in achieving a cancer preventive lifestyle.

Alcohol is classified as a group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, yet fewer than 33 percent of American adults know that drinking alcohol increases their cancer risk.

Alcohol consumption is a direct cause of seven cancers including cancer of the breast, colon, esophagus, larynx, liver, pharynx and rectum. It may also increase the risk of pancreatic and stomach cancer. The more you drink, the higher your risk.

You can reduce your risk of alcohol-attributable cancers by drinking no more than two alcoholic beverages a day if you’re a man, and no more than one a day if you’re a woman.

Studies show that the risk of some alcohol-attributable cancers decreases when a person quits drinking. If you've been a drinker for a long time, it’s never too late to give it up.