United States: A national poll taken recently shows that only just over a third of American adults are aware that consuming any kind of alcohol – beer, wine or spirits like whiskey – raises the risks of cancer.
Alcohol has been described by health messages as causing cancer or having a relationship with cancer, but most people neglect this.
The survey, which was conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center, reveal that the level of awareness is still low.
According to Patrick Jamieson, the director of the center, one of the causes of such low awareness level is due to the effective marketing made and positive portrayal of drinking in different media. Prevention messages have also been hampered for many years by stereotyping in the mass media in which alcohol has been portrayed as the epitome of sophistication and glamour.
According the HealthDay there are messages about potential damages of alcohol consumption, increased probability of cancer, yet it seems that such kind of warnings tends to be hidden behind the numerous positive associations with alcohol consumption present in media.
This highlights the challenge public health campaigns face in getting people to truly understand the risks of alcohol, and it shows the importance of continuing to educate the public about how drinking can affect their long-term health.
A third of adults in who are the U.S. report current alcohol use upto 6 percent report binge drinking in the past two weeks and four percent report like literally heavy drinking, as per the U.S. CDC. Binge drinking is four or more drinks in two hours for women and five or more drinks for men.
Also here it cites, for example, that people can “reduce their risk of cancer by drinking alcohol in moderation or not drinking at all.”
But to the shock of the presidency that message seems to have been lost on most Americans.
About, six out of every ten respondents were not aware that consumption of alcohol regularly can raise chances of getting cancer, by the survey.
Four in 10 were unsure that statement was true and 2 in 10 were even more wrong — answering that it would not have any impact or that instead it would reduce a person’s cancer risk, the survey revealed.
They are from a sample of 1744 adults among those surveyed in September.