Alcohol is a leading cause of cancer and alcoholic beverages should have warning labels similar to those on cigarette packs, the U.S. Surgeon General said Friday.
It's the latest salvo in a heated debate about the risks and benefits of moderate drinking, with the influential Dietary Guidelines for Americans set to be updated soon. For decades, it has been said that drinking alcohol in moderation can help prevent heart attacks and strokes.
That recognition is built into the dietary advice given to Americans. However, as research has progressed, it has been found that drinking alcohol, even within recommended limits, is associated with many types of cancer.
Labels on bottles and cans of alcoholic beverages now warn about drinking during pregnancy or before driving or operating other machinery, and general “health risks.”
However, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said alcohol is directly responsible for 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 related deaths each year.
She called for the label to be updated to include an increased risk of breast cancer, colon cancer, and at least five other malignancies currently linked to alcohol consumption by scientific research.
“Many people believe that as long as they drink less than the current guideline limit of one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men, there is no risk to their health or well-being,” Dr. says. Murthy said in an interview.
“Data do not support cancer risk.”
Only Congress can mandate new warning labels like the one recommended by Dr. Murthy, but it is unclear whether the incoming administration will support this change.
Still, President-elect Donald J. Trump does not drink alcohol, and his pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., vowed decades ago to give up alcohol and drugs and regularly He reportedly attends AA meetings on a regular basis.
There is no question that large doses are harmful. But proponents of moderate drinking, including wine, beer, and spirits manufacturers and some doctors and scientists, believe that consuming small amounts of alcohol each day can reduce cardiovascular risk, which is the No. 1 killer in the United States. They claim that it has the potential to alleviate the disease.
However, new scientific research is criticizing the methodology of earlier studies and challenging what was once the consensus view.
Although most cancer deaths occur from drinking alcohol in excess of currently recommended dietary guidelines, the risk of breast, mouth, and throat cancers is significantly lower than drinking just one drink per day or less. It can also be elevated through ingestion, Dr. Murthy said. on friday.
Overall, one in six breast cancers is caused by alcohol consumption, Dr. Murthy said. Additionally, recent research has linked moderate alcohol consumption to certain heart conditions, including atrial fibrillation, a cardiac arrhythmia.
Two scientific reviews are used to inform the latest recommendations regarding alcohol consumption in the Federal Dietary Guidelines.
Five years ago, the scientific report that influenced the creation of the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines acknowledged that alcohol is a carcinogen and generally unhealthy, and set recommended amounts for men as standard. It proposed “strict guidelines” that would limit people to one drink, or 14 grams of alcohol, per day. day.
However, when the final guidelines were drawn up, the advice remained that men were allowed to drink up to two drinks a day in moderation.
But the government says new research shows that “even drinking alcohol within recommended limits can increase your overall risk of death from a variety of causes, including some types of cancer and some cardiovascular diseases.” admitted the evidence.
Since then, more studies have found a link between alcoholic beverages and cancer. But attempts to change warning labels on alcoholic beverages are likely to face an uphill battle.
Although the link between alcohol and breast cancer has been known for decades, the current warning label has remained unchanged since it was adopted in 1988.
It was first mentioned in the 2000 U.S. Dietary Guidelines. In 2016, the Surgeon General's report on Alcohol, Drugs and Health linked alcohol misuse to seven types of cancer.
Recently, Congress commissioned a scientific review of research on moderate drinking conducted under the auspices of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
That analysis found an association between alcohol consumption and a small increase in breast cancer, but no clear association with other cancers. The report also revived the theory that moderate drinking is associated with fewer deaths from heart attacks and strokes, and fewer deaths overall, compared to not drinking at all.
However, the World Health Organization says there are no safe limits for alcohol consumption and 47 countries have mandatory warnings on alcoholic drinks. But cancer is rarely mentioned.
Currently, only South Korea has a label warning about liver cancer, but manufacturers can choose alternative labels that do not mention cancer. Ireland currently plans to introduce a label in 2026 stating that there is a direct link between alcohol and deadly cancer.
The industry has a strong history of fighting warning labels that mention cancer, and alcohol producing countries have also challenged warning labels under international trade law.
A federally funded Canadian study into the effects of warning labels mentioning cancer was halted prematurely due to industry opposition.
The Surgeon General's recommendations provided a brief overview of research studies and reviews published over the past 20 years, including global studies from 195 countries and territories involving 28 million people.
They all found that the higher the alcohol intake, the higher the risk of cancer.
Other studies looking at specific cancers, such as breast cancer and oral cancer, found that people who drank just one drink a day had a 10% and 40% increased risk, respectively, compared to those who didn't drink. It turns out.
This report describes the biological mechanisms by which alcohol is known to induce cancerous changes at the cellular level.
The most widely accepted theory is that alcohol breaks down in the body to acetaldehyde, and this metabolite binds to and damages DNA, causing cells to begin to grow uncontrollably and leading to malignant tumors. .
Animal studies have shown that rodents whose drinking water was mixed with ethanol, which is used in alcoholic beverages, or acetaldehyde, developed numerous tumors throughout their bodies.
Research has shown that alcohol produces oxidative stress, which increases inflammation and can damage DNA.
It also changes the levels of hormones such as estrogen, which can play a role in the development of breast cancer, makes it easier for carcinogens such as cigarette smoke particles to be absorbed into the body, and increases susceptibility to mouth and throat cancer. .
The Surgeon General's report also details the increased risks associated with drinking, distinguishing between increased absolute and relative risks.
For example, if a woman drinks less than one drink a week, her lifetime absolute risk of breast cancer is about 11.3 percent (11 out of 100).
The risk increases to 13.1 percent (13 out of 100 people) for one drink a day and 15.3 percent (15 out of 100 people) for two drinks a day.
For men, the absolute risk of developing alcohol-related cancers ranges from about 10 percent (10 in 100) for those who drink less than one drink per week to 11.4 percent (10 in 100) for those who drink weekly. 11 people). 1 day on average. For people who drink two drinks a day on average, that percentage rises to 13 percent (13 out of 100).
Many Americans do not know that there is a link between alcohol and cancer.
A 2019 survey of U.S. adults 18 and older conducted by the National Cancer Institute found that fewer than half of Americans recognized alcohol as a risk factor for cancer, compared to fewer than half of Americans who recognized tobacco as a carcinogen. 89% did.
However, according to the Surgeon General's report, alcohol is the third leading cause of preventable cancer, after tobacco and obesity.
Dr Murthy said it was important to know that the risk increased as alcohol intake increased. However, each individual's cancer risk varies depending on family history, genetic makeup, and environmental exposures.
“I wish there was a magical shutoff that could tell people they're safe,” he said. “What we do know is that less is more when it comes to reducing cancer risk.”
“People who drink occasionally for special events, or who have one or two drinks a week, are likely to have a much lower risk than if they drink every day,” he says. added.
