Mounting research highlights the health dangers of drinking. Here’s what we’re learning
Alcohol-associated car crashes claim the lives of about 13,500 people annually in the U.S. Fittingly, billboards broadcast the dangers of getting behind the wheel impaired. But health officials say an even deadlier drinking-associated danger lurks in relative obscurity: An estimated 20,000 cancer deaths each year are attributed to alcohol consumption, according to the latest research and a recent Surgeon General’s advisory published in January.
“The direct link between alcohol use and cancer was first established in the late 1980s, and evidence for this link has strengthened over time,” the advisory states, with former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who authored the report, emphasizing that alcohol is a preventable cause of about 100,000 cases of cancer annually.
In fact, behind tobacco and obesity, alcohol is the third-leading preventable cause of cancer. Yet more than half of Americans don’t know alcohol consumption is linked to higher cancer risk, according to survey research highlighted in the advisory.
The research to date shows alcohol use increases the risk of at least seven types of cancer, including:
1. Breast (in women)
2. Colorectum
3. Esophagus
4. Liver
5. Mouth (oral cavity)
6. Throat (pharynx)
7. Voice box (larynx)
The more a person drinks, the greater the danger, but any alcohol consumption can have an impact. From the perspective of cancer risk, “there is no safe amount of alcohol,” says Noelle LoConte, M.D., a medical oncologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Carbone Cancer Center, who studies the link between alcohol and cancer.
Yet while drinking socially is normalized, talking to a doctor about the health risks associated with drinking is not, LoConte says. Many people don’t know exactly how much alcohol they consume, she notes, or if they do, they may not disclose that amount to their physician.
Breast cancer: Even “a little” might be too much
Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer among women, with roughly 270,000 cases diagnosed annually. Within that massive number is another: About 16 percent, or more than 44,000 cases of breast cancer, are attributed to alcohol consumption, according to a 2024 research review published in the American Cancer Society’s flagship journal CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
Research consistently finds that alcohol can alter or raise hormone levels, including estrogen. Higher levels of the hormone can lead to mutations in breast tissue that cause cancer. “Even drinking within the guidelines, so one a day for women,” can increase the risk of developing breast cancer, LoConte says.
Put another way, research finds about 11 out of every 100 women who consume less than one alcoholic beverage will develop breast cancer in their lifetime, as noted in the Surgeon General’s advisory. Two more than that, or 13 in every 100 women, who have one drink a day, and 15 in 100 women who have two drinks per day, will develop breast cancer.
Of course, drinking is but one prominent risk factor that could raise a woman’s risk of developing cancer. Many others, starting with age, obesity, genetics/family history and environmental exposures (to radiation, for example), can also stack the deck against a person. Doctors encourage considering all risks.
“If you’re a postmenopausal woman and there is a reason why your risk is higher than normal for breast cancer,” it’s important to factor that in when choosing whether to drink — and how much to drink, says William Dahut, M.D., chief scientific officer for the American Cancer Society.
For some time, it’s been known that heavy drinkers have more infections — “evidence of a ‘deranged immune system’ we call it,” LeConte says. “But that may mean immunotherapy, which is potentially curative therapy for many people with cancer — even stage 4 cancer sometimes — will not work as well.”
LeConte understands people don’t make all their decisions based on cancer risk. “But we would like people to at least be aware that alcohol is a carcinogen so that they can incorporate that in their decision-making,” she says. (By
Michael Schroeder, AARP)