Have you set a New Year's resolution for a dry January?

If so, you might be among a growing number of people trying to cut back on how much alcohol you drink and your resolution might have come at the perfect time, with the surgeon general issuing an advisory on Friday that alcohol consumption is directly linked to increased risks of several types of cancers.

And because of that, I don't.

Beverages should come with a warning label.

Ted Goldberg has more on that data, and those recommendations.

We know for a long time that alcohol you know, pickles, the liver people know about cirrhosis.

But it turns out it pickles every organ.

A new advisory from the Surgeon General's office is not great news for anyone who drinks.

We know the more alcohol a person drinks, the higher the risk of these cancers.

And I think what the public should know is that even moderate amounts, one drink a day or fewer, can still increase the risk of cancer.

I don't think that the American public has the realization that alcohol is probably the number three leading modifiable risk factor for developing cancer, just behind tobacco and a poor diet.

The Surgeon General is warning Americans that we now know of a direct link between alcohol consumption and a greater risk of being diagnosed with at least seven different types of cancer, similar to tobacco, alcohol kind of causes cancer in all the places it touches.

Alcohol impairs the kind of the red blood cell factory, your bone marrows ability to make good cells.

And so they often are larger and kind of funny shaped.

We'll often see that in blood work as alcohol is broken down by the body and it damages our genetic material or DNA.

And that is why we see this kind of diverse array of cancers associated with alcohol use, alcohol increase oxidative stress and inflammation in the body.

It also changes hormone levels like estrogen, which contributes to breast cancer development.

These health experts agree with recommendations from the Surgeon General's office that alcoholic beverages should have, warning labels on them, telling people about cancer risks similar to the existing labels that have warned pregnant women about drinking by law since 1988.

It highlights the scientific consensus that alcohol consumption directly linked to cancer risk.

The evidence is really clear that alcohol increases the risk of at least seven types of cancer, such as breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and cancers of the mouth and throat.

By proposing these warning labels on alcohol containing products, I really think that, you know, this is similar to elevating alcohol to kind of the risk factor or the risk status that we associate with tobacco.

And so, you know, I think that that will be helpful if this is a measure that is eventually passed, if people get their, medical information from multiple sources.

But I think if it's something that you're opening on a regular basis, it will cause you at least to give pause when you look at it and go, oh, does that really cause cancer?

But will those labels work?

Plenty of Americans will happily ignore the warning, but I do think there is probably, a segment of the population that will heed that message on the bottle, so to speak.

A growing number of people are going a step further and participate in Dry January, where they don't drink alcohol to start the year or simply cut back.

I do think it's a good barometer to kind of reset, sort of that level of alcohol consumption.

And I think it can be very eye opening.

Right?

A lot of people who are maybe trying dry January may realize, hey, I feel a lot better.

My sleep quality is better.

I've had multiple people tell me, you know what, I did a dry January.

I'm not going back.

My sleep is the best it's ever been.

I've lost weight.

My energy is better.

I have, I don't have a shorter fuze as I did.

The Surgeon General's office claims that every year, about 100,000 Americans get cancer related to alcohol consumption, and 20,000 Americans will die because of it.

While there are several factors that lead to people getting cancer, drinking booze has become a leading cause of it.

As health experts figure out new ways to warn the public.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Ted Goldberg.