Alcohol-related cancer deaths in the US have more than doubled over three decades, with new research showing that just one drink per day could raise cancer risk and that the impacts extend far beyond liver cancer.
Researchers at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, analyzed more than three decades of Global Burden of Disease data. Their study, published in August in the Lancet Regional Health, found that annual cancer deaths attributed to alcohol climbed from 11,361 in 1990 to 23,126 in 2023.
The findings link alcohol consumption to an increased risk of death from breast, prostate, colon, rectal, stomach, pancreatic and liver cancers, along with cancers of the head and neck.
Older men faced the heaviest effects, although researchers found increases across most cancer types, age groups and regions.
Alcohol has long been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, placing it in the same category as tobacco smoke and asbestos.
Research also indicates that even relatively low levels of alcohol consumption can raise cancer risk. Elevated risk has been linked to intake levels of just 5 to 15 grams per day. Given that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines a “standard drink” in the US as containing 0.6 ounces (or 14 grams) of pure alcohol, just one drink per day could increase cancer risk.
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), alcohol can contribute to cancer growth in several ways. The NCI said alcohol consumption accounted for about 5% – nearly 100,000 – of the 1.8m cancer cases diagnosed in the US in 2019. It was also responsible for about 4% – nearly 25,000 – of the roughly 600,000 US cancer deaths that year.
Older men saw a particularly sharp impact in the August study. The alcohol-related cancer mortality rate among males aged 55 and older rose nearly 24% during the 33-year period.
Among men, liver cancer deaths had the strongest association with alcohol, followed by esophageal and colorectal cancers. Among women aged 55 and older, breast cancer was the leading alcohol-linked cancer killer, followed by liver and colorectal cancers.
Early last year, the then surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, said alcohol use was the third-leading preventable cause of cancer in the US, behind tobacco and obesity, and called for alcoholic beverages to carry warning labels alerting consumers to cancer risks.
