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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Arwa Mahdawi

I wish I had known more about alcohol when I started drinking

Happy young woman with short hair having white wine with friends
‘Knowing something in the abstract is very different from being reminded about risks at the point of consumption.’ Photograph: Posed by models; Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images

You’re going to want to sit down with a big glass of water for this one, because I’m afraid I have some bad news. Here we go: alcohol is not terribly good for you. Shocker, right? You’ve probably never heard anything like this before in your life. No doubt, you’ve been choking down a glass of pinot with dinner whenever you can stomach it because you thought it was good for your cholesterol. Instead, it is elevating your risk of cancer.

If public health experts have their way, the fact that alcohol is carcinogenic is going to be very hard for British drinkers to ignore. Dozens of medical and health organisations recently wrote to Keir Starmer urging the prime minister to force companies to include “bold and unambiguous” labels on booze bottles, warning that alcohol causes cancer.

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