The United States Surgeon General Vivek Murthy started the year out by issuing a dire warning to Americans – consumption of alcohol has a direct link to cancer. On Friday, January 3, Murthy stated a public warning that any alcohol consumption, even red wine, which had previously been thought to benefit health, can have severe health consequences.
“Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States – greater than the 13,500 alcohol-associated traffic crash fatalities per year in the US – yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk,” Murthy warned.
Third to obesity and tobacco, alcohol is a leading cause of many of the most commonly detected cancers in the US, including breast, colorectum, esophagus, liver, mouth, throat, and voice box cancer. Murthy also noted that the risk is not altered by the type of beverage – wine, beer, and liquor all carry the same risk.
Murthy is now pushing for an additional label to be added to alcohol in America, similar to those on nicotine packaging, which warns of the cancer risk. However, updating the warning labels on alcohol will require approval from Congress.
This news comes amid a shift in younger adults away from alcohol consumption. In a Gallup poll from 2024, half of those surveyed believed that consuming one or more alcoholic drinks a day was detrimental to their health. The poll also found that people in their 20s consume less alcohol than they did a decade ago.
