Alcoholic beverages are a leading cause of cancer and should include a warning about that risk on their labels, the U.S. surgeon general said Friday.
Alcohol is a factor in nearly 100,000 new cancer diagnoses each year and approximately 20,000 deaths from the disease, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said in an advisory aimed at focusing public attention on the health risk. In comparison, alcohol-related traffic accidents kill 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 notice says. “While scientific evidence for this connection has been growing over the past four decades, less than half of Americans recognize it as a risk factor for cancer.”
Labels on bottles and cans of alcoholic beverages already warn about consumption 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 just over two weeks left in office. President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Janette Nesheiwat, 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 scientific data linking alcohol to cancer is conflicting.
Amanda Berger, senior vice president of the Distilled Spirits Council, noted that a recent report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine found that alcohol is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, but did not find similar associations with other types of cancer. .
That report also concluded that moderate alcohol consumption is associated with lower risks of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease, compared with never consuming alcohol.
“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 role to determine any proposed changes to warning statements based on the full body of scientific research.”
The surgeon general's notice said cancers of the colorectum, esophagus, liver, mouth, throat and larynx are linked to alcohol consumption, as is breast cancer in women. The risk of developing breast, mouth or throat cancer may increase with less than one drink a day, he said.
(US Office of the Surgeon General)
However, more than half of Americans are unaware that their drinking behavior affects their cancer risk. TO survey 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% realized that alcohol could also cause cancer. cancer.
Nearly half of alcohol-related cancers in the U.S. are breast cancers in women, according to a study published by the American Cancer Society. About 1 in 6 female breast cancers are due to alcohol, and the disease accounts for about 60% of all alcohol-related cancer deaths in women.
As a result, drinking alcohol poses a higher risk of cancer for women than for men. In 2019, around 54,330 women were diagnosed with cancer caused by alcohol consumption, as were around 42,400 men. About 60% of alcohol-related cancer deaths in women are due to breast cancer, while liver cancer and colorectal cancer are responsible 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 an alcohol-related cancer is 16.5%. Having one drink a day increases that risk to 19%, and having two drinks a day raises it to 21.8%, according to the advisory.
For men, drinking once a week is associated with a 10% absolute risk of alcohol-related cancer. That risk increases to 11.4% when drinking one drink a day and 13.1% when drinking two drinks a day, according to the advisory.
The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer says that alcohol is a Group 1 carcinogenputting it in the company of tobacco, asbestos and ultraviolet radiation. The U.S. 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 Association . for Cancer Research agree that at least seven types of cancer are related to alcohol consumption.
There is also evidence to suggest that drinking contributes to skin, prostate, pancreatic and stomach cancer, although more research is needed, the surgeon general's advisory says.
Scientists for the first time linked alcohol consumption to certain types of cancer almost 50 years agoand evidence showing that alcohol consumption is a risk factor for at least seven types of cancer has increased since then, the notice says.
For example, an observational study A study of 28 million people in 195 countries and territories found that the more alcohol a person consumed, the higher their risk of cancer. a study A study involving more than 1 million women found that those who had up to 1 drink per day were 10% more likely to get breast cancer compared to those who abstained. In addition, a study A study of 36,000 people found that those who consumed about one drink a day were 40% more likely to develop oral cancer than people who did not drink.
Laboratory experiments have shown how alcohol causes cancer.
When alcohol is metabolized in the body, it breaks down into a chemical called acetaldehyde that can bind to DNA. The resulting damage can trigger uncontrolled cell growth that leads to cancer.
Drinking also creates unstable molecules called reactive oxygen species which can interfere with DNA, proteins and essential fats. they too increase inflammationwhich makes the body more hospitable against cancer.
There is also evidence that alcohol fuels breast cancer by affecting levels of estrogen and other hormones, and that other types of carcinogens, such as those found in tobacco smoke, are more easily absorbed into the body when dissolved. in alcohol.
Companies that sell alcoholic beverages say they have long urged consumers to drink the beverages safely.
“The American beer industry has been an advocate for responsible drinking for decades,” a Beer Institute spokesperson said Friday. “We encourage adults of legal drinking age to make decisions that best fit their personal circumstances and, if they choose to drink, to consume alcoholic beverages in moderation.”
Dr. Laura Catena, an oenologist and physician, said she would “appreciate any type of alert or communication from the surgeon general about the cancer risks of excessive alcohol consumption,” but that it should not go beyond established science.
The American Association. for Cancer Research says alcohol consumption is responsible for 5.4% of all cancer cases in the U.S. That makes it a bigger risk factor than exposure to ultraviolet radiation, poor diet and infections by pathogens such as hepatitis and human papillomavirus. (For comparison, 19.3% of cancers in the United States are attributable to smoking, according to the association.)
Studies suggest that people who reduce or eliminate alcohol consumption can reduce their risk of these cancers by 8% and reduce their overall cancer risk by 4%.
He Dietary Guidelines for Americans The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services say there is no health reason for non-drinkers to start consuming alcohol. Those who drink 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 glass of distilled spirits count as one drink.
The surgeon general's advisory says that about 83% of alcohol-related cancer deaths occur in people who exceed those limits. But that means that 17% of the deaths occurred in people who drank in moderation.
