US Surgeon General Wants Alcohol Cancer Warnings. That’s why

Drinking a glass of wine a day is often touted as a healthy choice for your heart. Although there are warnings against the use of other substances such as cigarettes, alcohol in moderation is generally considered fine – but this could change.

The US Dietary Guidelines for Americans encourages people to avoid large amounts of alcohol and suggests sticking to two or fewer drinks a day for men and one or fewer drinks a day for women.

And yet, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s latest advice suggests that even small amounts of alcohol can be harmful and increase the risk of developing cancer.

“Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer, responsible for about 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States — more than 13,500 alcohol-related traffic deaths annually in the U.S. — however, the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk,” an adviser to the surgeon general countries.

His advice points to studies that have found a clear link between alcohol consumption and a higher risk of developing seven types of cancer, including breast cancer.

“We now know that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption and that alcohol is a known carcinogen,” he says Dr. Faiz Bhoraprofessor of surgery and regional chair of surgery at Hackensack Meridian Health and Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine.

“Its mechanism of cell damage is well established. It causes oxidative stress and impairs DNA repair, among other mechanisms that lead to cell cycle dysregulation and cancer formation.”

The Surgeon General is calling on makers of alcoholic beverages such as beer and spirits to update warning labels to include the risk of cancer. At the moment, drinks containing mostly alcohol warns against consumption by pregnant people and drunk driving.

“More social and political pressures prevent us from doing the right thing, which would actually be to put a warning label on a substance that is clearly toxic,” Bhora told CNBC Make It.

“Shares of alcohol makers including Molson-Coors and Anheuser-Busch initially fell more than 1% after the advice,” CNBC reported.

Even previous claims that there is a positive effect from a glass of red wine a day are questionable. Previous studies showing that a small amount of alcohol a day can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease are being called out for their methodology, according to New York Times.

“One would be hard-pressed to find benefits from alcohol consumption,” says Bhora. “Maybe a reduction in stress with impairment of some emotional faculties (but) I’m not even sure if that’s necessarily a good thing.”

“We’ve always heard these stories about 80- and 90-year-olds leading healthy lives and we kind of chalk it up to a glass of wine or a scotch. I’m not sure there’s any real scientific connection to it,” he adds.

Alcohol consumption is deeply ingrained in our culture, Bhora says, and “people use it as a crutch for social interactions (and) for emotional reasons.” Still, people now “feel very comfortable refusing alcohol at a restaurant or a party for health reasons, and I think that’s a path that should be encouraged and supported as a first step.”

For starters, Bhora suggests “moving away from the concept of one drink a day is good or safe,” he says. Try to drink alcohol only on the weekends if you’re cutting back, and slowly eliminate it from your diet completely if you feel inclined, says Bhora.

“When many of my friends and colleagues who have either stopped drinking alcohol or reduced their consumption significantly, (they) find it liberating,” says Bhora.

“They no longer need it for social interactions, they have a much clearer mind, and in many cases they actually end up being much more productive.”

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