A new advisory from the U.S. surgeon general categorizes alcohol consumption as the “third leading preventable cause of cancer” in the country.
Dr. Vivek Murthy issued the guidance Friday, stating new findings link alcohol to the chances of contracting at least seven different kinds of cancer: throat, liver, esophageal, mouth, larynx, colon, and rectal cancers.
Alcohol consumption, it should be noted, had already been tied to an increased susceptibility to breast cancer. Earlier data found some 16.4% of breast cancer diagnoses in the U.S. are attributable to alcohol.
The surgeon general shared details from the nascent research in a post published to X:
Higher alcohol consumption increases alcohol-related cancer risk, yet only 45% of American adults are aware that consuming alcohol increases their risk of developing cancer. pic.twitter.com/53XUxndIia
— Dr. Vivek Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) January 3, 2025
“Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States — greater than the 13,500 alcohol-associated traffic crash fatalities per year in the U.S. — yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk,” Murthy said in a statement. “This advisory lays out steps we can all take to increase awareness of alcohol’s cancer risk and minimize harm.”
New data found that, in 2019 alone, an estimated 96,730 were tied to alcohol consumption, including 42,400 in men and 54,330 in women.
The report summarized, in part, “Alcohol use is very common — in 2019-2020, 72% of U.S. adults reported they consumed one or more drinks per week, but less than half of U.S. adults are aware
of the relationship between alcohol consumption and cancer risk.”
There are, according to the research, a few ways alcohol contributes to an increased cancer risk.
One way it increases risk is the alcohol breaks down into acetaldehyde, a chemical that damages DNA and increases the potential for cancer inside the body. The drug also induces “oxidative stress,” which, in addition to causing inflammation, damages protein and cells, as well as DNA.
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Thirdly, alcohol consumption alters hormone levels, including estrogen, which increases susceptibility to breast cancer. And lastly, carcinogens from other sources — like tobacco — dissolve into alcohol, making it easier for cancer-causing agents to be absorbed into the body.
Research published in 2017 by the Barna Group found that, while Christians as a whole are less likely than their secular peers to drink alcohol, the majority of practicing believers (60%) admitted to imbibing. However, less than half of Evangelicals (46%) said they drink alcoholic beverages.
As for the latest advisory, the surgeon general is calling for new cancer risk labels to be added to alcohol containers and alcoholic beverages and is urging a reassessment of the guideline limits for consumping alcohol based on the new data about its ties to cancer.
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