U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said there is a “direct link between alcohol consumption and increased cancer risk.”
He announced the advisory in a news release issued on Friday morning.
The nation’s top doctor said alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of cancer. It comes behind tobacco and obesity. There are about 100,000 cases of alcohol-related cancers every year while there are about 20,000 alcohol-related cancer deaths.
He said that while scientists have understood the connection over the past 40 years, less than half of Americans realize the risk.
“Many people out there assume that as long as they’re drinking at the limits or below the limits of current guidelines of one a day for women and two for men, that there is no risk to their health or well-being,” Murthy said, according to The New York Times.
The cancers that alcohol could cause include breast cancer, colorectum cancer, esophageal cancer, liver cancer, mouth cancer, throat cancer and larynx cancer. About 16.4% of breast cancer can be linked to alcohol consumption, the news release said.
Murthy said it doesn’t matter which type of alcohol is consumed. Beer, wine and spirits all carry the risk. The potential for some cancers such as breast, mouth and throat cancer, increases when someone drinks one or fewer drinks a day on average.
The Department of Health and Human Services said that there are four ways that alcohol consumption can cause cancer:
- Alcohol breaks down into acetaldehyde which can damage DNA.
- Alcohol causes oxidative stress that can damage DNA, proteins and cells.
- Alcohol alters hormones such as estrogen.
- Carcinogens dissolve in alcohol while alcohol alters the cells in the mouth and throat, allowing carcinogens to be absorbed easily.
The latest information counters earlier advice that moderate drinking can have some health benefits. Some alcohol had been said to lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes, The New York Times reported.
The advisory suggests that the Surgeon General’s health warning that is already found on alcohol be updated to include the cancer risk. The current labels only warn against drinking and driving, alcohol consumption while pregnant and operating machinery after drinking, the newspaper reported. Congress would have to approve the new labels. The current one was adopted in 1988.
The advisory came days before Murthy will leave his post as Surgeon General. President-elect Donald Trump has selected family and emergency medicine physician and Fox News contributor Janette Nesheiwat as his Surgeon General, The Washington Post reported.
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