Surgeon General Calls for Cancer Warning Label on Alcohol Products
The United States Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, released a new advisory outlining how drinking alcohol increases a person’s cancer risk. Murthy is now recommending that alcohol products come with cancer warning labels, like what you can find on a pack of cigarettes.
The advisory states alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, after tobacco and obesity. Additionally, it highlights that alcohol consumption contributes to nearly 100,000 cancer cases and about 20,000 cancer deaths each year.
Kathleen Egan, ScD
“Alcohol is an established carcinogen that contributes to several different cancers in human beings,” said Kathleen Egan, ScD, an epidemiologist at Moffitt Cancer Center. “It's estimated to account for more than 5% of cancer diagnoses.”
According to another report from the American Association for Cancer Research, excessive levels of alcohol consumption increase the risk of certain types of head and neck cancers, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and breast, colorectal, liver and stomach cancers.
Alcohol breaks down into acetaldehyde, a chemical compound that can damage DNA. When DNA is damaged, cells can grow uncontrollably, creating cancerous growths. Alcohol also generates reactive oxygen species, an unstable molecule containing oxygen that can damage DNA and proteins within the body.
“Safe levels are debated,” Egan said. “While any level of consumption will contribute some risk, keeping intake to below one drink per day in women and two drinks per day in men will keep that excess risk to a minimum. However, if you have a history of smoking, the excess risk is higher for some cancers. Therefore, smokers in particular, should consider limiting exposure.”
