Surgeon general calls for cancer warnings on alcoholic beverages
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Wines in a liquor shop in New York City. Photo: Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for the U.S. to adopt warning labels on alcoholic beverages similar to the ones mandatory for cigarettes.
Why it matters: Numerous studies have linked alcohol consumption with cancer, prompting health experts to rethink a years-old view that low to moderate drinking could even bring health benefits.
Driving the news: According to the new advisory, alcohol use is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the U.S., right after tobacco and obesity, and contributes to nearly 100,000 cancer cases each year — and about 20,000 cancer deaths.
- Yet most Americans are unaware of the link between alcohol and cancer, per the advisory, with 72% of Americans consuming at least one drink per week.
- Studies have shown a causal link between alcohol consumption and increased risk for at least seven types of cancer "including breast (in women), colorectum, esophagus, liver, mouth (oral cavity), throat (pharynx), and voice box (larynx)," the advisory stated.
Zoom in: "The more alcohol consumed, the greater the risk of cancer," according to the advisory.
- "For certain cancers, like breast, mouth, and throat cancers, evidence shows that this risk may start to increase around one or fewer drinks per day," it added.
What's next: Congress would need to take action for the U.S. to update the health warning labels on alcoholic beverages.
- Currently, the labels on alcoholic beverages warn users to not consume while pregnant or before operating heavy machinery, and that it may cause "other health problems." They have remained unchanged since their adoption in 1988.
- The advisory calls for the labels to be amended to include an explicit cancer risk warning.
Between the lines: Americans' drinking habits have changed in recent years.
- A Nov. 2024 study from the Annals of Internal Medicine journal found that increases in alcohol consumption in the U.S. seen between 2018 to 2020.
- Yet the portion of Americans who drink has shrunk in recent years. Teens and young adults have driven this trend, as many of them view even moderate drinking as potentially harmful to their health.
Zoom out: While advancing medicine has helped cancer death rates drop, scientists have observed an increase in cancer diagnoses.
- American Cancer Society data indicated last year that the U.S. would top 2 million new cancer diagnoses for the first time in 2024.
- Younger patients in particular have seen an alarming rise in new cancer cases.
Go deeper: Gen X, millennials more likely to get cancer, new study shows
