Alcoholic beverages are a leading cause of cancer and should carry a warning about this risk on their label, the U.S. surgeon general said Friday.
Alcohol is a factor in nearly 100,000 newly diagnosed cancers each year and about 20,000 deaths from the disease, said U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy a consultation The aim is to draw public attention to the health risk. In comparison, traffic accidents related to alcohol consumption are fatal about 13,500 Americans every year.
“Alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, after tobacco and obesity,” the 22-page opinion states. “While scientific evidence supporting this association has increased over the past four decades, fewer than half of Americans recognize it as a risk factor for cancer.”
Labels on bottles and cans of alcoholic beverages already warn against drinking during pregnancy. They also warn against drinking before driving or operating other machinery. In California, voter-approved Proposition 65 also requires businesses that serve or sell alcoholic beverages to warn about health risks, including cancer.
Any decision to update or expand the label would require congressional approval, an uncertain prospect. Murthy was appointed by President Biden, who has less than two weeks left in office. President-elect Donald Trump has selected Janette Newheiwat, an executive at a New York-based chain of urgent care clinics, as his nominee for surgeon general.
Beer, wine and spirits industry executives said Friday that the scientific data linking alcohol to cancer is mixed.
Amanda Berger, senior vice president at the Distilled Spirits Council, pointed out that a Current report A study from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine found that alcohol is linked to a higher risk of breast cancer, but found no such link with other cancers.
This report also concluded that moderate alcohol consumption is associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease compared to abstaining from alcohol consumption.
“The current health warning on alcohol products has long informed consumers about the potential risks of alcohol consumption,” Berger said. “Many lifestyle choices carry potential risks, and it is the federal government’s responsibility to base any proposed changes in warnings on the body of scientific research.”
The surgeon's recommendation said cancers of the colon, esophagus, liver, mouth, throat and larynx are all linked to alcohol consumption, as is breast cancer in women. The risk of developing breast, mouth or throat cancer can increase with less than one drink a day, it said.
(Office of the US Surgeon General)
Yet more than half of Americans are unaware that their drinking habits affect their risk of cancer. A Opinion poll The American Institute for Cancer Research found that 89% of Americans recognized that smoking causes cancer and 53% knew that obesity was a risk factor, but only 45% knew that alcohol can also cause cancer.
Almost half of alcohol-related cancers in the United States are breast cancer in women a study published by the American Cancer Society. Approximately one in six breast cancers in women are due to alcohol, and the disease accounts for approximately 60% of all alcohol-related cancer deaths in women.
As a result, alcohol consumption poses a greater risk of cancer for women than for men. In 2019, around 54,330 women and around 42,400 men were diagnosed with cancer caused by alcohol consumption. About 60% of alcohol-related cancer deaths in women are due to breast cancer, while liver cancer and colon cancer account for about 54% of alcohol-related cancer deaths in men.
For women who consume less than one drink per week, the absolute risk of developing alcohol-related cancer is 16.5%. One drink per day increases this risk to 19%, two drinks per day increases this risk to 21.8%, according to the recommendation.
For men, drinking once a week is associated with a 10% absolute risk of alcohol-related cancer. That risk increases to 11.4% if you drink one drink per day and to 13.1% if you drink two drinks per day, the recommendation says.
The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer says alcohol is a Group 1 carcinogenwhich puts it in the company of tobacco, asbestos and ultraviolet radiation. The US National Toxicology Program declared in 2000 that alcohol causes cancer in humans, and organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society and the American Assn. for Cancer Research agree that at least seven types of cancer are linked to alcohol consumption.
There is also evidence that alcohol consumption contributes to skin, prostate, pancreatic and stomach cancers, but more research is needed, the surgeon general's statement said.
Scientists linked alcohol consumption to certain types of cancer for the first time almost 50 years agoand evidence that alcohol consumption is a risk factor for at least seven types of cancer has since increased, the statement said.
For example, an observational study of 28 million people in 195 countries and territories found that the more alcohol a person consumes, the higher their risk of cancer. A study A study involving more than a million women found that women who drank up to 1 drink per day had a 10% higher risk of developing breast cancer than women who abstained. Also, a study Using 36,000 people, it was found that those who consumed about one drink per day had a 40% higher risk of developing oral cancer than people who didn't drink at all.
Laboratory experiments have shown how alcohol leads to cancer.
When alcohol is metabolized in the body, it breaks down into a chemical called acetaldehyde that can attach to DNA. The resulting damage can trigger uncontrolled cell growth, leading to cancer.
Drinking also creates unstable molecules, so-called reactive oxygen species which can affect DNA, proteins and essential fats. you too Increase inflammationwhich makes the body more susceptible to cancer.
There is also evidence that alcohol promotes breast cancer by affecting estrogen and other hormone levels, and that other types of carcinogens – such as those found in tobacco smoke – are more easily absorbed by the body when dissolved in alcohol.
The companies that sell alcoholic beverages say they have long urged consumers to drink the drinks safely.
“The U.S. beer industry has been committed to responsible consumption for decades,” a spokesman for the Beer Institute said Friday. “We encourage adults of legal drinking age to make choices that best suit their personal circumstances and, if they choose to drink, to consume alcoholic beverages in moderation.”
Dr. Laura Catena, who is both a winemaker and a doctor, said that she would “welcome any kind of warning or communication from the surgeon general about the cancer risks of heavy drinking,” but that it should not go beyond proven science.
The American Assn. According to Cancer Research, alcohol consumption accounts for 5.4% of all cancer cases in the United States. This makes alcohol consumption a greater risk factor than UV radiation, poor nutrition and infections caused by pathogens such as hepatitis and the human papilloma virus. (For comparison, 19.3% of cancers in the U.S. are due to smoking, according to the AACR.)
Studies suggest this that people who reduce or avoid alcohol consumption can reduce their risk of these cancers by 8% and their overall cancer risk by 4%.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services, there is no health reason for non-drinkers to start drinking alcohol. Anyone who drinks alcohol can minimize their risk by limiting their consumption to no more than one drink per day for women and no more than two drinks per day for men.
A 5-ounce glass of wine, a 12-ounce bottle of beer, or a 1.5-ounce cup of distilled spirits is considered a single drink.
According to the surgeon general's recommendation, about 83% of alcohol-related cancer deaths occur in people who exceed these limits. But that means that 17% of deaths were caused by people who drank moderately.