When I was young, the only people who had tattoos were mostly sailors and others in the military. Women never had tattoos and tattoo parlors were frowned upon and usually limited to the shady areas of town. Those who had tattoos usually didn’t display them.

Today is a very different world. Now both men and women have tattoos and they display them with pride. It’s a cultural revolution from my earlier days. Fads like this often come and go, but unfortunately, with tattoos it’s a lifetime commitment.

Putting aside the cultural change, what are the health effects of tattoos? Zena le Roux, writing in The Epoch Times, tells us tattoos are not harmless. Many tattoo inks contain chemicals that have been classified as carcinogenic—or cancer-causing—by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. A 2024 study by Swedish researchers found that 21 percent of participants with malignant lymphoma had tattoos compared with 17 percent of controls. The risk was highest—an 81 percent increase—among those who got their first tattoo within two years of diagnosis.

“We know that tattoo ink often contains toxic chemicals and that a significant portion of the injected ink is transported away from the skin by the immune system, which perceives it as a foreign substance,” Christel Nielsen, associate professor and lead author of the study, told The Epoch Times.

Once ink enters the dermis, the layer of skin beneath the outer layer, the immune system attempts to clear it, sending pigment particles to nearby lymph nodes and, potentially, other organs. This may disrupt immune function and trigger systemic inflammation. Over time, the persistent presence of ink in lymphatic tissue could contribute to abnormal immune activity and increase the risk of cancers such as lymphoma and skin cancer.

Is there a correlation between size and risk?

Nielsen’s study found no clear link between the size of a tattoo and lymphoma risk. “We did not observe an increased risk with larger tattoos, which was unexpected,” Nielsen said. “That does not mean such a link doesn’t exist—only that our study design may not have been able to detect it.”

However, Nielsen noted that a January study published in BMC Public Health on the same topic found a different pattern, suggesting that larger tattoos may indeed be associated with a higher cancer risk. The study proposed that larger tattoos might have a stronger effect due to greater overall ink exposure or prolonged exposure from tattoos acquired over time.

Tattoo risks also include infections and allergic reactions that may be difficult to treat, Dr. Bruce Brod, clinical professor of dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, told The Epoch Times. Such risks may be amplified by the amount of ink used or how deeply it’s deposited—factors more likely in larger or multiple tattoos.

Does color matter?

Another factor to consider is the color of the tattoo. In a matched analysis comparing individuals with similar characteristics, those with black or gray tattoos had a 23 percent higher risk of lymphoma. Those with both black and colored tattoos had a 21 percent higher risk compared to people without tattoos.

In a broader, less-controlled analysis, the risk was even higher for black and gray tattoos, showing a 32 percent increase, and lower for tattoos with both black and colored ink, with an 11 percent increase. Of note, this broader analysis may have been influenced by other factors, such as lifestyle or health differences between groups. Black ink often contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are known to be carcinogenic and can increase the risk of cancer. Colored inks, on the other hand, may contain primary aromatic amines. Both may contain metals such as arsenic, lead, and chromium.

Some warning signs people with tattoos should look out for when monitoring their skin health include persistent redness, itching, bumps, new pigmented lesions, color change, ulceration, and bleeding. Tattoos can also complicate the early detection of skin cancer, Brod said. Since changes in the skin may be obscured by the tattoo pigment, detecting potential issues becomes more challenging. If there is a new or changing spot within a tattoo—or anywhere on the skin—it’s crucial to seek evaluation from a dermatologist.

Unfortunately, laser removal is not a solution to the problem. Among tattooed participants who underwent laser treatment, the risk of lymphoma was found to be three times higher.

For some people, this post today may ruin your day. We’ve always been told, even in medical school, that alcohol in moderation, especially red wine, may actually be beneficial to your health. There’s even a scripture in the Bible where the Apostle Paul tells his young protégé, Timothy, “No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.” (I Tim. 5:23)

But keep in mind the quality of the water in those days was poor and the alcoholic content of the wine was low. And the best medical practices of the day was the anointing of the head with oil!

Unfortunately, the latest medical research challenges our previous conceptions about alcohol use in moderation. Zena le Roux, writing in The Epoch Times, tells us “Lighting a cigarette in a crowded room might earn you glares, but pouring a glass of wine? That’s still seen as relatively harmless—even healthy by some. Yet few people realize that alcohol is a Group 1 carcinogen, in the same category as tobacco and asbestos. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, Group I carcinogens can result in cancer in humans.”

Today, alcohol is linked to at least seven types of cancer: oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, colorectal, liver, and female breast. Globally, alcohol consumption is associated with about 740,000 new cancer cases each year. Breast, esophageal (food pipe), and liver cancers are the three most strongly linked to alcohol use.

The main culprit is ethanol—the pure form of alcohol found in all alcoholic drinks. When the body breaks down ethanol, it produces acetaldehyde, a toxic substance, which can damage DNA. The effect of ethanol and acetaldehyde on our cells and DNA may change how cells replicate and stop the body from repairing the damage.

“All types of alcoholic beverages contain ethanol—beers, wine, and spirits all pose a risk,” Carina Ferreira-Borges, a public health specialist and World Health Organization regional adviser for alcohol, told The Epoch Times. Alcohol also promotes oxidative stress and inflammation, which can further harm DNA. It may also affect hormone levels, particularly estrogen, which can raise the risk of breast cancer.

No Safe Levels

Research has established that alcohol is a cause of cancer, even at low levels of intake. For instance, it has been shown that women who have less than one drink per day still have a higher risk of breast cancer than those who don’t drink at all. Light to moderate drinking—defined as fewer than 20 grams of pure alcohol per day—was linked to approximately 23,000 new cancer cases in the European Union in 2017. That’s roughly equivalent to less than 1.5 liters of wine, 3.5 liters of beer, or 450 ml of spirits per week. More than one-third of these cases were tied to light drinking of less than 10 grams per day.

In the United States, awareness that alcohol increases cancer risk was highest for liquor, at about 31 percent, followed by beer and wine. Some believe that alcohol might be protective—or at least pose no harm. To address this critical gap in public awareness, one key strategy, Ferreira-Borges said, is making health warnings on alcoholic products more visible and explicit, similar to tobacco labels.

“Labels should clearly state the cancer risk and other health dangers associated with drinking,” she said. Ferreira-Borges also emphasized the need for stronger regulation to curb the alcohol industry’s influence on policy and research. “Governments must prioritize public health over profits,” she said. Finally, health care professionals should educate patients about the dangers of even moderate alcohol use, Ferreira-Borges said, but they need clear guidance and support to do so effectively.

We all know alcoholic drinking can lead to cirrhosis of the liver as well as social and emotional decline. Now we know it can also lead to cancer. It’s time to take drinking seriously.

The U.S. has the greatest healthcare in the world. The U.S. has the worst life expectancy statistics among developed nations. Can both of these statements be true? Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Many of the leading doctors and medical institutions are found in the U.S. and people from all over the world come here for the latest and greatest medical treatments. But you might live longer if you live in another country.

The graphic below shows life expectancy for the U.S. compared to other developed countries:

Brianna Abbott, writing in The Wall Street Journal, tells us much of the gap in life expectancy is due to deaths among working-age adults, according to Dr. Steven Woolf, a life-expectancy researcher at the Virginia Commonwealth University. “Americans die earlier and are sicker than people in other high-income countries,” he said. “This has been true for a long time, and the trend is getting worse.” Drug overdoses from opioids, alcohol, suicide and chronic diseases drive most of those early deaths, researchers said. The U.S. also took a bigger hit from Covid-19, even among younger adults who were at lower risk.

That was in part because Americans were already in worse health and more vulnerable to the virus’s toll. The U.S. obesity rate is nearly double the average of peer nations, disrupting prior decades of progress against heart disease. Around a third of U.S. adults have had multiple chronic conditions, the highest rate among our peers, according to the Commonwealth Fund.

Rates for conditions including hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have held relatively steady in recent decades, and the rising prevalence of diabetes is in part because people are living longer with the disease, researchers say. But the U.S. still has higher rates of these conditions compared with peer nations.

Many preventable chronic diseases are related to four major risk factors: cigarette smoking, excessive alcohol use, physical inactivity and poor nutrition. In the U.S., people get less exercise, moving less than some European counterparts, studies have shown. The nation’s Western-style diet is heavy in sugars, processed meat and unhealthy fats. Americans also consume more ultra-processed foods, surveys suggest, and such diets have been linked to increased risks of obesity, Type 2 diabetes and some cancers.

The U.S. is arguably the best in the world at treating complex diseases, says Dr. Philip Landrigan, director of the global public health program at Boston College. But it is worse at providing access to care and services that help manage or prevent illness, he says.

Wealthy Americans have lower rates of chronic diseases and live longer than their low-income counterparts. The U.S. also has a wider gap in death rates between wealthy and poor Americans than European countries, a recent study found. But the wealthiest Americans still had mortality rates comparable to the poorest Northern and Western Europeans.