Does Drinking Alcohol Increase Risk of Getting Cancer?

Summary: Yes, drinking alcohol increases risk of getting cancer. New research shows drinking alcohol increases risk of getting cancer at levels of consumption previously considered safe. This latest research on alcohol has been incorporated into public guidelines released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Key Points:

• Studies show alcohol is associated with increased cancer risk.
• New guidance indicates no level of alcohol consumption is free of negative health consequences
• Evidence shows alcohol consumption is the 3^rd leading preventable cause of cancer in the U.S.
• On average, alcohol is associated with 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths per year

Alcohol Consumption and General Health Risk

In 2024, the Surgeon General of the United States (SG) issued an advisory called “Alcohol and Cancer Risk 2024” which caused a paradigm shift in the way millions of people in the U.S. think about alcohol and alcohol consumption.  A Surgeon General’s Advisory (SGA) appears in response to mounting evidence about a public health issue:

“An SGA is a public statement that calls attention to an urgent public health issue and provides recommendations for how it should be addressed. Advisories are reserved for significant public health challenges that need the nation’s immediate awareness and action.”

The fact that medical experts now consider alcohol consumption a significant public health challenge is indeed a sea-change on our cultural relationship to alcohol. Alcohol-related harms, including cancer, are further discussed in the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (2020-2025 DGA), which indicates:

“Emerging evidence suggests that even drinking within the recommended limits may increase the overall risk of death from various causes, such as from several types of cancer and some forms of cardiovascular disease. Alcohol has been found to increase risk for cancer, and for some types of cancer, the risk increases even at low levels of alcohol consumption (less than 1 drink in a day). Caution, therefore, is recommended.”

With that warning in mind, let’s look at how government agencies within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) define the terms they use, so we can understand how that may impact daily behavior for people who drink alcohol.

What’s In a Drink?

In the U.S., government agencies including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA) define levels of alcohol considered safe for overall health. Collectively, they make and promote a series of recommendations, prefaced by these major caveats:

“It is important to note that harms may be associated with any amount of drinking, and as the amount of alcohol consumed increases the level of harm increases.

Drinking less is better for health than drinking more.

People who do not drink should not start drinking for any reason.

Adults who choose to drink, and are not among the individuals listed below who should not drink, are encouraged to limit daily intakes to align with the Dietary Guidelines.”

Here’s the definition of a drink, according to the SGA and the NIAA:

• One standard drink contains 14 grams, or 0.6 fluid ounces of alcohol, equivalent to one:
  • Glass of wine (5 ounces)
  • Can or bottle of beer (12 ounces)
  • Shot of liquor (1.5 ounces)

Next, the guidelines.

How Many Drinks Can I Have Without Increasing Cancer Risk?

The guidelines published by the NIAA, as defined in the 2020-2025 Dietary Guideline for Americans, recommend limiting consumption for women and men to:

• Women: 1 drink per day or less
• Men: 2 drinks per day or less

Guidelines define binge drinking for women and men as follows:

• Women: consuming 4 drinks in less than 2 hours
  • 4 or more drinks in one two-hour period in the past 30 days
• Men: consuming 5 drinks in less 2 hours
  • 5 or more drinks in one two-hour period in the past 30 days

The guidelines define heavy alcohol use as:

• 4 drinks or more on any day, or more than 8 drinks per week for women, or:
  • Binge drinking 5 or more times per month
• 5 drinks or more on any day, or more than 15 drinks per week
  • Binge drinking 5 or more times per month

In addition, all government agencies listed above agree:

“Binge drinking and heavy alcohol use can increase an individual’s risk of alcohol use disorder.”

Finally, people who should not drink alcohol include anyone who:

• Takes medications that have adverse interactions with alcohol
• Has a medical condition alcohol exacerbates
• Is under age 21
• Has alcohol use disorder (AUD), or knows they have trouble controlling consumption
• Is pregnant/thinks they may be pregnant

Click to Download a pdf of the Guidelines

With all our core terms and associated guidelines clearly defined, let’s take a look at how many people in the U.S. regularly consume alcohol. Since the new, evidence-based paradigm holds that there is no level alcohol consumption without health risk, the information we share below will show us how many people in the U.S. are at risk of developing alcohol-related cancer.

Who’s Drinking in the U.S.? Facts and Figures

These data are publicly available from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2024 NSDUH):

Alcohol Use: Past Month, Heavy, and Binge Drinking, Alcohol Use Disorder, Age 12+

• Current use: 46.6% (134.3) million
• Binge drinkers: 21.7% (61.2 million)
• Binge drinking among underage people: 7.6% (2.9 million)
• Heavy alcohol use among underage people: 1.5% (576,000)
• Alcohol use disorder: ~10% (27.9 million)

To learn how we support people with alcohol use disorder (AUD), please navigate to our AUD treatment page:

Alcohol Abuse and Dependence I Crownview Medical Group

Now, back to our topic: alcohol and cancer risk.

When we read the bullet list above in light of the new information on cancer risk we also share above, the prevalence figures change from concerning to alarming. By those estimates, around 200 million people in the U.S. are at elevated risk of developing alcohol-related cancer. One problem we face in addressing this problem is awareness of the risks.

Evidence published in the 2019 Cancer Awareness Risk Study (AIRC), conducted by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) reveals significant gaps in our collective awareness of what increase our cancer risk. For instance:

• 91% of people know radiation can cause cancer
• 89% know tobacco can cause cancer
• 84% know genetics can increase risk of cancer
• 81% know pollution can cause cancer
• 59% of people know hormones in beef can cause cancer
• 54% of people know stress increases risk of cancer

However, despite the significant percentage of people who know and understand those risks:

Only 45% of people in the U.S. know that drinking alcohol increases risk of getting cancer.

In the sections that follow, we’ll share the startling facts about the relationship between alcohol and cancer, which should drive the point home that drinking alcohol increases risk of getting cancer.

Alcohol and Cancer Risk: Alcohol-Related Cancer Deaths and Types of Cancer Associated with Alcohol Consumption

The SGA indicates that in 2020, alcohol was associated with 741,300 cancer cases around the world, as reported in the study “Global Burden of Cancer In 2020 Attributable to Alcohol Consumption”:

• 185,100 (25%) associated with consuming 2 drinks or less per day
• 209,800 (28.3%) associated with consuming 2 to 4 drinks per day
• 153,400 (20.7%) associated with consuming 4 to 6 drinks per day
• 192,900 (26%) associated with consuming more than 6 drinks per day

Alcohol-related cancers include at least seven (7) types of cancer. Drinking alcohol increases risk of getting the following types of cancer, compared to people who don’t drink alcohol.

Mouth/Pharynx:

• 1.4-1.8 times more likely for light consumption
• 2.6-5 times more likely for heavy consumption

Larynx:

• 1.8 times more likely for light consumption
• 5 times more likely for heavy consumption

Esophagus:

• 1.3 times more likely for light consumption
• 5 times more likely for heavy consumption

Breast:

• 1.04 times more likely for light consumption
• 1.23 times more likely for moderate consumption
• 1.6 times more likely for heavy consumption

Colorectum:

• 2 to 1.5 times more likely for moderate to heavy consumption

Liver:

• 2 times more likely in heavy drinkers

For women, the SGA frames how drinking alcohol increases risk of getting cancer as follows:

• Among 100 women who consume less than one drink each week:
  • 17 will get cancer associated with alcohol
  • 17% increased risk
• Among 100 women who consume one (1) drink every day:
  • 19 will get cancer associated with alcohol
  • 19% increased risk
• And among 100 women who consume two (2) drinks every day:
  • 22 will get cancer associated with alcohol
  • 22% increased risk

For men, the SGA reports different levels of risk:

• Among 100 men who consume less than one drink each week:
  • 10 will get cancer associated with alcohol
  • 10% increased risk
• Among 100 men who consume one (1) drink every day:
  • 11 will get cancer associated with alcohol
  • 11% increased risk
• And among 100 women who consume two (2) drinks every day:
  • 13 will get cancer associated with alcohol
  • 13% increased risk

We’ll take a moment to address a common myth related to alcohol, health, and cancer.

A Quick Aside: The Red Wine Question, the Red Wine Myth

While it’s possible to conclude that the relaxing effect of alcohol improves health by reducing stress, there is no evidence to support this commonly held belief, which we can now officially label as a myth. In addition, no research supports the speculation that a compound found in red wine called resveratrol may reduce cancer risk.

Drinking red wine poses the same risk of getting cancer as drinking any other type of alcohol.

We address that question because it’s often the first thing we hear when we talk to patients about the health risks of alcohol. Next, we’ll review the way alcohol increases cancer risk in the human body, and close this article with advice from the Surgeon General and how we, as a society and culture, can work to reduce alcohol consumption, and thereby reduce preventable cancer deaths.

How Drinking Alcohol Can Increase Risk of Getting Cancer: Metabolism and Carcinogens

Evidence shows four clear mechanisms by which alcohol consumption elevates cancer risk.

How Does Drinking Alcohol Increase Risk of Getting Cancer?

1. The body changes alcohol into acetaldehyde after consumption. Acetaldehyde can cause cancer by damaging DNA. Damaged DNA can cause uncontrolled cell growth, which can lead to the development of cancerous tumors.
2. Reactive oxygen. In the body, alcohol metabolism can lead to the formation of reactive oxygen species. Through a process called oxidation, these altered oxygen molecules can damage DNA, lipids, and proteins throughout the body, and cause harmful inflammation.
3. Hormones. Alcohol can change levels of essential hormones in the body, such as estrogen, which increases risk of getting breast cancer.
4. External carcinogens. Carcinogens – i.e. any substance that can cause cancer – such as tobacco smoke or second-hand tobaccos smoke, can dissolve in alcohol, which increases absorption into tissue and cells, which can increase risk of getting cancer of the mouth and throat.

Although this information about the cancer risk associated with alcohol is relatively new to most people, there are steps public and private entities can take, starting now, to reduce the prevalence of alcohol-related cancer in the U.S.

Here’s what the Surgeon General’s Advisory suggests:

Improve Warning Labels

Government agencies can update the warning labels on products containing alcohol to reflect current medical and scientific knowledge. The current label reads:

“GOVERNMENT WARNING: (1) According to the Surgeon General, women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects. (2) Consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery, and may cause health problems.”

Experts agree it should include language similar to the following:

(3) Consumption of alcoholic beverages is associated with increased risk of the mouth, larynx, breasts, esophagus, colorectum, and liver.”

Update Consumption Advice

Government agencies can revise recommendations for alcohol consumption that align with the latest medical and scientific evidence.

Enhance Awareness Initiatives

Public and private institutions can increase efforts to raise awareness about the connection between alcohol and cancer

Provide Information at Primary Care Level

General practitioners and family doctors can inform all patients about the health risks of alcohol, provide screening for alcohol use disorder, provide referrals to professional support, and/or offer brief intervention.

When we all learn the facts about alcohol and cancer risk, we suspect our collective behavior around alcohol – meaning how much and how often we drink – will begin to change. Until then, it’s incumbent upon us to share this information for the health and wellness of everyone. Here’s an easy-to-understand takeaway anyone can share:

“Them more you drink, the more your risk of getting cancer increases.”