Surgeon general wants cancer warnings for alcohol. Is there any amount that's safe to drink?

MW Surgeon general wants cancer warnings for alcohol. Is there any amount that's safe to drink?

Venessa Wong

In a new advisory, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recommended that labels on alcoholic beverages be updated to include a warning about cancer risk

Extensive research shows that drinking alcohol increases the risk of cancer, and U.S. public-health authorities are following the example of other countries in increasing public awareness about these repercussions - even for light drinkers.

In an advisory issued Friday, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recommended that labels on alcoholic beverages be updated to include a warning about the risk of cancer associated with alcohol consumption - noting that the risk increases even for people who have one drink per day, which is considered moderate.

Forty-seven countries require health- and safety-related alcohol warning labels, and South Korea and Ireland require cancer-specific warnings. In the U.S., alcoholic beverages are currently labeled with warnings about the risk of birth defects for pregnant women, impaired ability to drive and operate machinery, and unnamed "health problems."

Alcohol occupies a central place in American culture for plenty of non-health-related reasons: 72% of adults say they consume one or more alcoholic beverages each week, according to the advisory, and drinkers say they spend $82 a month on alcohol, a 2024 LendingTree survey showed. Yet medical researchers have been linking alcohol consumption to elevated cancer risk for years. In 2023, the World Health Organization said bluntly: "When it comes to alcohol consumption, there is no safe amount that does not affect health," and specifically cited cancer risk.

There are about 20,000 alcohol-related cancer deaths annually in the U.S., according to the surgeon general. "The more alcohol consumed, the greater the risk of cancer. 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," the advisory said. The largest share of alcohol-related cancer deaths in women in the U.S. are from breast cancer; in men, they are from liver cancer and colorectal cancer.

Alcohol stocks including Brown-Forman $(BF.B)$, Constellation Brands $(STZ)$, Molson Coors $(TAP)$, Anheuser-Busch InBev $(BUD)$ and Boston Beer $(SAM)$ were down on Friday after the advisory was issued.

While studies had previously suggested red wine may improve heart health, new research on alcohol and cancer risk has called into question whether any level of alcohol consumption is considered safe from a health perspective. "The societal confusion is perfectly justified by the mixed messages that have come out," Nigel Brockton, vice president of research at the American Institute for Cancer Research, told MarketWatch.

For years, "the national dialog around alcohol use has centered around wine's purported heart-health benefits, thanks to muddied public-health and media messaging and industry lobbying." the Breast Cancer Research Foundation said in a statement Friday. "We now know that alcohol use can cause a small - but real - increase in breast cancer risk," in connection with other factors such as a woman's unique biology, comorbidities and family history.

Increasingly, research shows there is no safe level of alcohol use in terms of cancer risk. "There are no studies that would demonstrate that the potential beneficial effects of light and moderate drinking on cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes outweigh the cancer risk associated with these same levels of alcohol consumption for individual consumers," according to the WHO.

Breast-cancer risk is particularly sensitive to alcohol consumption. The Breast Cancer Research Foundation noted that "even women who consume one or fewer drinks a day have a 5% increase in risk of breast cancer compared to nondrinkers."

According to ??the American Cancer Society's diet and exercise guideline, if a person's concern is cancer prevention, "it is best not to drink alcohol." Given that many people choose to drink despite the health risks, men who choose to do so should minimize their intake, limiting it to less than two drinks per day, and women - due to their typically smaller body sizes - should limit intake to less than one drink a day, the organization said.

The bottom line: No alcohol is best, but people who do choose to consume it should "drink less, and drink less frequently during the week and during the month," Jane Figueiredo, an associate professor of medicine at the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, told MarketWatch.

"We totally understand that people have to live," Brockton added - but "whether it's red wine, whether it's liquor, whether it's beer, they all increase your risk" of cancer. "If you are really concerned about your cancer risk, then you would want to minimize your drinking as much as possible," he said, as "there is no safe dose."

Leaders of several other prominent health organizations also expressed support for the surgeon general's latest advisory. The American Cancer Society said it was "imperative" that people are made aware of the potential impact of alcohol consumption.

"For years, the [American Medical Association] has said that alcohol consumption at any level, not just heavy alcohol use or addictive alcohol use, is a modifiable risk factor for cancer. And yet, despite decades of compelling evidence of this connection, too many in the public remain unaware of alcohol's risk," Dr. Bruce Scott, the president of the American Medical Association, said in a statement. "Today's advisory, coupled with a push to update the Surgeon General's health-warning label on alcoholic beverages, will bolster awareness, improve health, and save lives."

MarketWatch reached out to alcoholic-beverage industry groups for comment. In a statement, Amanda Berger, senior vice president of science and research at the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, said: "We do not recommend that anyone drink to achieve health benefits and urge all adults who choose to consume alcohol to consult their health provider to determine what is best for them." A spokesperson at the Beer Institute said it encourages people who choose to drink to "consume alcohol beverages in moderation."

Both the Distilled Spirits Council and the Wine Institute called it a "complex" issue. They referred to the surgeon general's 2020-25 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which state in part: "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."

-Venessa Wong

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January 04, 2025 08:00 ET (13:00 GMT)

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