Cancer risk falls with abstinence

It's been well documented that alcohol can cause cancer of the esophagus the canal which leads to the stomach but does the risk go away once you stop drinking?

Researchers from the University of Birmingham in England have discovered that the risk drops rapidly, even among formerly heavy drinkers, although there has to be between five and nine years of abstinence before it falls to a very low level.

Heavy drinkers those who drink more than 30 pints of beer a week or the equivalent are nine times as likely to contract esophageal cancer as those who never drink.

However, the risk becomes minimal among light drinkers those who drink less than 10 pints of beer a week, or the equivalent (BMJ, April 29, 1995).

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