According to a new US national report, heavy alcohol consumption increases the risk of six types of cancer, reports Everyday Health.

In 2019, about 1 out of every 19 cases of cancers were attributed to drinking alcohol yet more than 50 percent of Americans don’t know that alcohol can increase the risk of certain types of cancer, says Amy Comander, MD, medical director at Mass General Cancer Center in Waltham, Massachusetts.

The new report from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) named alcohol use as the third biggest controllable risk factor for cancer, after smoking and obesity.

Drinking alcohol increases the risk for six different types of cancer:

Certain types of head and neck cancer

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Breast cancer

Colorectal cancer

Liver cancer

Stomach cancers

Researchers speculate that alcohol consumption may play a role in the increased incidence of cancer in younger Americans.

A recent study that analyzed differences among adults born in the United States between 1920 and 1999 found that cancer incidence rates rose in successively younger generations—particularly in Generation Xers and Millennials—in 17 of 34 cancer types, including breast, pancreatic, and gastric cancers (colorectal cancer is considered a gastric cancer)

At the same time, alcohol consumption in the United States has generally increased over the last two decades. Although fewer adolescents and young adults are drinking, more midlife adults, especially women, are increasing their alcohol intake and binge drinking.