Alcohol and cancer: what the labels do not tell you
Risky SubstancesKey points
- Alcohol is a group 1 carcinogen according to the WHO’s cancer agency.
- 2020: about 741,000 new cancer cases worldwide were linked to alcohol (4.1% of all).
- Moderate drinking (under 20 g a day) accounted for about 1 in 7 of those cases.
- Even up to 1 drink a day raises the risk of mouth, esophageal and breast cancer.
Few people know about this link
Surveys show that fewer than half of Americans know that alcohol raises cancer risk. Yet alcohol is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the U.S., after tobacco and obesity, according to the Surgeon General’s 2025 advisory.
What the research shows
Global estimates. An analysis for the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer estimated that 741,000 new cancer cases worldwide in 2020, or 4.1% of all cases, were attributable to alcohol. Moderate drinking of less than 20 g a day accounted for more than 100,000 of them, about 1 in 7 (Rumgay et al., 2021).
Light drinking. A meta-analysis of 572 studies found that even light drinking (up to one drink a day) was linked to higher risk of cancers of the mouth and throat, esophagus and female breast (Bagnardi et al., 2015).
Which cancers alcohol is linked to
- mouth, throat and larynx;
- esophagus;
- liver;
- colon and rectum;
- breast.
What to do
- Less is better; for cancer risk there is no safe threshold (GBD 2016 Alcohol Collaborators, 2018).
- If you drink, stay within the Dietary Guidelines limits or below.
- Avoid combining alcohol with smoking, which multiplies the risk of mouth and throat cancers.
Frequently asked questions
Does it matter what kind of alcohol I drink?
No. Beer, wine and spirits all contain ethanol, which is what causes the harm.
Did the U.S. Surgeon General issue a warning?
Yes. In January 2025, the Surgeon General issued an advisory on alcohol and cancer risk and called for updated health warning labels on alcoholic drinks.
Sources
- Bagnardi et al. (2015). Alcohol consumption and site-specific cancer risk: a comprehensive dose–response meta-analysis. British Journal of Cancer 112(3):580-593. doi:10.1038/bjc.2014.579
- Rumgay et al. (2021). Global burden of cancer in 2020 attributable to alcohol consumption: a population-based study. The Lancet Oncology 22(8):1071-1080. doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(21)00279-5
- Griswold et al. (2018). Alcohol use and burden for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. The Lancet 392(10152):1015-1035. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31310-2
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Alcohol and Cancer Risk: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory. www.hhs.gov
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