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Found in beer, hard liquor and wine, alcohol is considered a psychoactive drug because it changes a person’s physical and emotional state.[1] Alcohol use is prevalent in the United States; more Americans over 12 years of age have consumed it in the past year than any other drug or tobacco product.[2]
The immediate harms associated with drinking alcohol, such as alcohol poisoning and injuries (including falls, drownings or motor vehicle accidents) are generally well known to the public....
Found in beer, hard liquor and wine, alcohol is considered a psychoactive drug because it changes a person’s physical and emotional state.[1] Alcohol use is prevalent in the United States; more Americans over 12 years of age have consumed it in the past year than any other drug or tobacco product.[2]
The immediate harms associated with drinking alcohol, such as alcohol poisoning and injuries (including falls, drownings or motor vehicle accidents) are generally well known to the public. However, survey research shows that less than half of Americans are aware that alcohol consumption increases cancer risk.
Recently, both the former U.S. Surgeon General and the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the alarm about the increased risk of cancer associated with alcohol consumption and called for adding a warning about this risk to the labels of alcoholic drinks.
Surgeon General’s advisory
In January 2025 the outgoing U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, issued an advisory about the increased cancer risk associated with alcohol consumption.[3],[4]
The advisory highlighted alcohol consumption as the third leading preventable cause of cancer (after tobacco and obesity) in the United States. Specifically, in 2019 an estimated 96,730 preventable cancer cases in the United States were related to alcohol consumption. Furthermore, the estimated annual toll of U.S. alcohol-related cancer deaths is 20,000, which is higher than the annual number of alcohol-related traffic crash deaths (approximately 13,500).
The advisory stated that multiple animal studies demonstrate that mice and rats that drink water with ethanol (the same type of pure alcohol present in alcoholic beverages) or its main metabolic breakdown product (acetaldehyde) develop an increased number of tumors. Likewise, data from human studies support a strong association between alcohol consumption and increased cancer risk, regardless of the type of alcohol consumed.
Overall, alcohol consumption increases the risk of developing at least seven types of cancer: colorectal (large intestines and rectum), esophageal, female breast, larynx, liver, mouth and throat.
In contrast, reduced alcohol consumption and long-term quitting are associated with lower risks of some alcohol-related cancers.
Approximately 83% of the estimated 20,000 annual U.S. alcohol-related cancer deaths occur at drinking levels above the 2020-2025 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommended limits of one drink daily for women and two drinks daily for men. One standard drink is equivalent to a 12-ounce beer, a five-ounce glass of wine or one shot (1.5 ounces) of liquor. However, the remaining 17% of the estimated annual U.S. alcohol-related cancer fatalities occur at drinking levels that are within the recommended limits.
A key action proposed in the Surgeon General’s advisory for reducing alcohol-related cancers in the United States is updating the existing warning label on alcoholic beverages to indicate that there is a direct link between alcohol consumption and cancer. Such a warning would likely increase awareness about alcohol-related cancer risks. For example, a Canadian natural experiment showed that the use of warning labels on alcohol containers increased knowledge about the alcohol-cancer association by 10% in two months.
The advisory indicated that the power to change the labels of alcoholic beverages lies with Congress.
WHO position
For decades, the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified alcohol as a Group 1 carcinogen, alongside asbestos, radiation and tobacco. In 2023 the WHO indicated that although the risk of developing cancer increases considerably with higher alcohol consumption, the available evidence cannot suggest a threshold at which the carcinogenic effects of alcohol begin to manifest in the human body.[5]
In February 2025 the WHO released a report indicating that alcohol-attributable cancers cause almost one-third of all alcohol-attributable deaths across the European Union countries.[6] Yet most Europeans are not aware of the link between alcohol and cancer. Even those who may be aware of such risks tend to associate alcohol-attributable harm with liver cancer rather than other common cancers.
The WHO report underscored the need for mandatory, standardized warnings about cancer-related risks on alcoholic-beverage labels. The report cautioned against providing information about such label warnings only digitally (such as through the use of QR codes) because this method will likely deliver the message to fewer people than standard on-product labels.
As of 2024 only four European Union countries have legislation regarding health warnings on alcohol container labels: France, Germany, Ireland and Lithuania.
What You Can Do
Keep the relationship between alcohol consumption and increased cancer risk in mind when considering whether to drink alcohol. Overall, drinking less alcohol is better for reducing your cancer risk and improving your overall health.
If you do not drink alcohol, it is not recommended that you start for any reason.
There is no known safe amount or time to drink alcohol during pregnancy. You should avoid alcohol if you are taking any medication that can interact with alcohol.
References
[1] Dominic E, Osuagwu OE, Nwabuze EE, et al. Analytical assessment of the effects of alcohol consumption on human population. West Afr J Ind Acad Res. 2014;11(1):29-43.
[2] National Institute on Drug Abuse. Alcohol. Key takeaways. https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/alcohol. Accessed April 7, 2025.
[3] Office of the U.S. Surgeon General. Alcohol and cancer risk. The U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory. 2025. https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/oash-alcohol-cancer-risk.pdf. Accessed April 7, 2025.
[4] Rabin RC. Surgeon General calls for cancer warnings on alcohol. NYT. January 3, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/03/health/alcohol-surgeon-general-warning.html. Accessed April 7, 2025.
[5] World Health Organization. No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health. January 4, 2023. https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-alcohol-consumption-is-safe-for-our-health. Accessed April 7, 2025.
[6] World Health Organization. Alcohol health warning labels: a public health perspective for Europe. 2025. https://www.who.int/europe/publications/i/item/9789289061681. Accessed April 7, 2025.
