Taipei Times
Date: Nov 26, 2019
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
People who drink alcoholic drinks at least once per week are 19 times more likely to develop
National Health Research Institute associate researcher Chang Shu-ming, center, holds a pictographic representation of research into hypopharyngeal cancer at a news conference at the Ministry of Health and Welfare in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
Head and neck cancers — including oral, oropharyngeal and hypopharyngeal cancers — rank fourth in the 10 most common cancers among men in Taiwan, the NHRI said, adding that the main risk factors are drinking alcohol, chewing betel nuts and smoking cigarettes.
Since the implementation of the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防制法) in 2008, the prevalence of men who smoke cigarettes has dropped from 55.1 percent in 2008 to 26.4 percent in 2017, the NHRI said.
The cigarette-smoking and betel-nut-chewing population has significantly decreased, it added.
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