U.S. surgeon general links alcohol consumption with cancer

Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy on Friday issued an advisory warning Americans that drinking alcohol could increase their risk of developing cancer. Alcohol is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, Murthy said, and it has been linked to at least seven types of cancers. About 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually are connected to alcohol, more than the 13,500 alcohol-related traffic fatalities reported per year. In addition to issuing the advisory, Murthy called for an updated health warning label on alcoholic beverages.

What are some of the other risks associated with drinking? Excessive alcohol consumption has been linked to heart disease, liver disease, mental health issues, and digestive problems, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A study published in August in the journal JAMA Network Open found that all drinking carries risks of developing other health conditions among adults with health-related or socioeconomic risk factors, a finding that counters the long-held belief that a small amount of red wine each day may actually benefit health. Meanwhile, a December report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine found that consuming a small amount of alcohol each day may be associated with lower risks of cardiovascular disease. However, the report also found that moderate drinking was associated with a higher risk for some cancers like breast, mouth, and throat cancers.

Have alcohol consumption trends changed in recent years? A growing number of Americans believe drinking is bad for a person’s health and 45% of respondents to a July Gallup poll said that having one or two drinks a day is bad for health. Respondents under the age of 35 were the most likely to respond in that way, and another Gallup poll last year found the percent of young adults who said they drink had dropped 10 percentage points from two decades earlier. In 2022, the per capita alcohol consumption in the United States dropped 1.2% from 2021, according to the National Institute on Alcohol and Abuse and Alcoholism.

Dig deeper: Listen to Travis K. Kircher’s report on The World and Everything in It about overcoming addiction on a Native American reservation.