Daily consumption of even one standard alcoholic drink sharply increases the risk of dying from cancer. According to a recent study published in The Lancet Regional Health – Americas, alcohol-related cancer mortality has increased significantly in the United States. Over the past 33 years, the share of alcohol-related fatal cases among people over the age of 20 has risen by 58%.
The increased risk includes breast, prostate, stomach, pancreatic, and liver cancers, as well as head and neck tumors. Among men aged 20 to 54, colorectal cancer is the leading cause of alcohol-related cancer deaths, while breast cancer ranks first among women. In both groups, these figures have surpassed those for liver cancer.
Scientists explain the development of cancer cells through the way alcohol is metabolized in the body. Once ethanol reaches the liver, it is converted into the carcinogenic substance acetaldehyde, which damages DNA and interferes with cellular repair processes. At the same time, alcohol causes oxidative stress, disrupts hormonal balance, and impairs the body’s ability to absorb key vitamins (A, C, D, and E) that help protect against cancer.
Between 1990 and 2023, alcohol-related cancer deaths nearly doubled, rising from 11,361 to 23,126 cases annually. Men over the age of 55 have been affected most severely, with the mortality rate increasing by nearly 24%. At the same time, even considerably smaller amounts of alcohol sharply increase the risk of cancer among women and men under 55.
Medical experts are increasingly rejecting the concept of a “safe” level of alcohol consumption and consider the traditional practice of drinking even small amounts every day to be scientifically unacceptable. “While our study does not directly require people to stop consuming alcohol completely, the main message is clear — the best health outcomes can be achieved by reducing alcohol consumption to the lowest possible level,” says the study’s lead author, Dr. Chinmay Jani, an oncologist at the University of Miami.
