Drinking alcohol increases cancer risk – even at low or moderate levels. Public health experts are raising awareness about the harms of alcohol. We’re here to help you make informed choices.
If you’re like us, you grew up knowing that drinking and driving is dangerous, that long-term heavy drinking can cause liver disease, and that some people struggle with alcohol addiction. But moderate drinking has often been portrayed as harmless or even good for your health. In the last few decades, growing research has linked alcohol to at least 7 types of cancer— in some cases, even less than one drink per day can raise the risk. Many of us in health-related fields have been surprised by these findings and are re-evaluating our drinking habits.
The connection is now so well-established that former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory highlighting the risks of alcohol [archived link] just before leaving his position in January, 2025. This advisory highlights the fact that alcohol use is a leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States and worldwide and that fewer than half of Americans are aware that drinking alcohol increases cancer risk.
How do researchers know alcohol is linked to cancer?
Note: All types of alcohol are carcinogenic (wine, beer, liquor). It’s the ethanol that’s problematic.
When scientists evaluate a potential cancer-causing agent, they look at three types of evidence: human studies, animal studies, and lab studies. When it comes to alcohol and cancer, the evidence is strong across all these dimensions, which is why alcohol is labeled as a Group 1A carcinogen by the WHO.
In human studies, we see the same trend again and again: people who drink alcohol are more likely to get certain types of cancer. This relationship is not only consistent across studies but also dose-dependent (more drinking tracks with greater risk), suggesting a true causal relationship (not a fluke association). The Surgeon General’s Advisory explains the research and shares links to the original research articles. The Advisory also explains some of the key ways that alcohol affects the body and how that increases the risk of developing cancer, and there’s even an infographic to go with the explanation.
Scientific studies have shown that alcohol consumption increases the risk of at least seven types of cancer:
- Breast (in women)*
- Colorectal
- Esophageal
- Liver
- Mouth
- Throat
- Voice box (larynx)
Image source for “Consuming alcohol increases the risk of developing at least 7 types of cancer.”
The Surgeon General’s Alcohol and Cancer Risk Advisory, the World Health Organization Fact Sheet, and other resources we shared about alcohol and cancer risk note that alcohol increases the risk of cancer in the “female breast” or “in women.” You may be wondering about men, nonbinary, or trans people.
- This statement also applies to trans and nonbinary people assigned female at birth who have not altered their breasts through surgery or hormones.
- It does not apply as well to cisgender men because breast/chest cancer is less common in men and there is less research on it, especially research that is specifically about alcohol-related breast/chest cancer. Learn more about breast cancer in men.
- There is also a gap in research about breast cancer in trans women, although a few studies, including this one from the Netherlands in 2019 indicated an increased risk of breast cancer for trans women using estrogen hormone therapy, which highlights the importance of cancer screening for trans women.
What does the research on alcohol and cancer mean for you and me?
It means that drinking alcohol increases your chances of developing several cancer types—kind of like how spending a lot of time in the sun raises your risk of skin cancer. It doesn’t mean that if you drink alcohol, you will definitely get cancer. The more you drink over time, the higher the risk, and even small amounts can have some effect.
Image source for “What is considered a “drink”?
You might be wondering how much additional risk we’re talking about. For women, the Advisory shares research showing that the lifetime risk (by age 80) of developing any alcohol-related cancer is about 16.5% for those who drink less than one drink per week (not including those who don’t drink at all). That rises to about 19% with one daily drink and 21.8% with two daily drinks. For men, the lifetime risk of alcohol-related cancer increases from about 10% with less than one drink per week to around 11.4% with one drink per day and 13.1% with two drinks per day.
For breast cancer specifically, the advisory notes that women’s lifetime risk is about 11% with less than one drink per week, increasing to about 13% with one drink per day and over 15% with two drinks per day.
Image source for “Higher alcohol consumption increases alcohol-related cancer risk in women and men”
How certain are we about how much alcohol increases cancer risk? We can be confident that drinking alcohol increases the risk of certain cancers — and that more drinking has a greater impact on risk. But the exact numbers, like the difference between 13% with one drink per day and over 15% with two drinks per day for breast cancer, aren’t as clear, and estimates vary across studies (like this analysis of 572 studies and this analysis of 106 studies). One major reason why it’s so hard to know exactly how much alcohol raises the risk of cancer is that our human research relies on observational studies. These studies look at patterns in large groups of people but can’t fully account for other factors, like smoking, diet, exercise, and stress, that could also affect cancer risk. High-quality observational studies do their best to adjust for these factors, called confounding variables, but it’s impossible to take everything into consideration. Researchers use observational studies because it would be unethical to do a randomized controlled trial — the gold standard for proving cause and effect — in which some people would be randomly assigned to drink alcohol over years to measure cancer risk.
On top of these research challenges, risk estimates are based on averages, and actual risk varies from person to person depending on individual genetics, alcohol processing (which can be especially important for people of East Asian descent), positive factors like healthy eating, and other factors that may not be known or considered. However, even though the exact numbers may shift from study to study, the overall message is clear: drinking more alcohol increases cancer risk, and drinking less alcohol lowers cancer risk.
Cancer risk: The big picture
Cancer is complicated, and our risk of developing it is shaped by many factors. Some risk factors are out of our control (like age, biological sex, and genetics), and others are more within our control (like smoking, drinking alcohol, and diet).
Each cancer risk factor is just one piece of the puzzle, and no one factor can predict what will happen. We all know smokers who avoided lung cancer, but that doesn’t make smoking harmless. Likewise, not everyone who drinks heavily will develop cancer, and not everyone who avoids alcohol will be spared a cancer diagnosis.
Cancer prevention is ultimately about risk reduction. Limiting alcohol is akin to wearing a seatbelt, getting vaccinated, or wearing sunscreen—they all reduce your risk of serious health issues.
Because the risk of cancer is so complex and depends on many factors, it’s impossible to pinpoint exactly what caused a given person’s cancer, and it’s important not to blame anyone who is diagnosed with cancer.
Thinking about drinking less?
Not drinking alcohol is becoming more socially accepted, and there are an increasing number of delicious alternatives. People choose to avoid alcohol for various reasons—overall health, personal or family history of addiction, religion, or simply to save money. When they learn about the risk of alcohol, some people decide to cut back or stop drinking altogether—they don’t feel that even a small risk increase is worth it. Others still drink occasionally and think of it as a treat, like cheesecake—they know that it’s not healthy but enjoy having it every once in a while.
Understanding the link between alcohol and cancer gives us the information we need to make informed choices. Reducing alcohol use—just like making other health-conscious decisions—can have a positive impact on our overall health.
Resources
Finding it hard to control how much you drink, or are you concerned about someone you know?
One resource to start with is Rethinking Drinking from the National Institutes of Health.
Interested in learning about how to have successful conversations with young people about alcohol?
Check out the “Talk. They Hear You.”® Underage Drinking Campaign from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
More about alcohol and cancer risk:
Office of the Surgeon General’s page on Alcohol and Cancer Risk
National Institutes of Health Alcohol and Cancer Risk Fact Sheet.
