Does Alcohol Really Cause Cancer?
by The Candidly Team
If we’re being completely honest, we weren’t thrilled to be writing this article. We don’t love being the Debbie Downer in your day and would much rather tell you about the cholesterol-lowering magic of lentils or the heart-protecting powers of fiber. But we promised to be candid. It’s in our name. And by now you probably know what we’re getting at anyway and that is that yes, alcohol causes cancer.
Just this year, the U.S. Surgeon General sounded the alarm on alcohol’s link to cancer risk (especially mouth, throat, voice box, esophagus, breast, liver and colon cancers). This includes any type of alcohol, including wine and beer.
According to Dr. Donald Hensrud of the Mayo Clinic, alcohol is the third-leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, beat out only by tobacco and obesity. In the Surgeon General’s report, they state that alcohol is classified “as a Group 1 carcinogen— alongside tobacco, asbestos, and formaldehyde, among others.”
Cancer risk increases with “any amount of alcohol use,” wrote the CDC, a message echoed by the World Health Organization, which also recently declared that based on research no amount of alcohol is safe for our health.
Ok, so … yikes!
Now that we’ve properly scared the s__ out of you, we’ll run through the health piece of this equation fairly quickly.
According to the CDC research links alcohol to cancer because:
It disturbs our bodies’ cell cycles, increases inflammation, and damages DNA. “When DNA is damaged, a cell can grow out of control and become cancer,” reports the CDC.
It can mess with hormones, including those that can contribute to breast cancer risk.
It “makes it easier for the cells in our mouth to absorb cancer-causing chemicals (called carcinogens)”
And to add insult to injury, alcohol can also contribute to almost every other health problem under the sun:
Heart disease
Liver disease
High blood pressure
Stroke
Digestive problems
Weaker immunity
Depression
Anxiety
Dementia
Image: Instagram/ @drop_the_bottle
So now, the kind of big question:
With all this information so glaring and findable, why is there is still so much weirdness around not drinking? Our Editor-in-Chief, Audie Metcalf, recently wrote about this and poignantly pointed out that as a non-drinker, there’s a casual and external pressure to drink:
It always amazed me that I was considered the one with the issue. And if I didn’t find the taste of alcohol and the experience of being drunk so grotesque, I’m sure I would have been coerced into having a glass. Or two. And so I think about that implied expectation that everyone should, when they’re sitting down at a table, drink alcohol … Drinking is still a social expectation. Not just an activity. An expectation. And I was always the weird one because I didn’t do it.
This all sort of conjures up the question about whether, with all the health things we focus on, to eat more fruits and veg, drink more water, exercise, sleep enough, worry less, don’t smoke, is drinking alcohol sort of getting off easy?
Are we low-key overlooking it the same way we overlooked smoking 50 years ago? And are we ourselves in any way contributing to the weirdness around not doing it?
This isn’t a judgement. Just a question. Mostly one we’re asking ourselves. We wouldn’t consider ourselves a “wellness” site if we didn’t have frank, collaborative conversations about what it means to be “well.”
Perhaps, for you that will include not drinking or drinking less. And perhaps the tides are already turning for more people to do just that. There are promising statistics indicating that people are “sober curious” and cutting back or cutting out alcohol. We notice in our own social circles how normal it is for friends and family to pass on a glass of wine - to choose mocktails over cocktails.
Knowing the risks associated with any choice we make is something we wholeheartedly believe in. And we imagine, since you clicked in, so do you. So cheers (clinking water glass spritzed with lime) to that.
This article is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be used in place of professional advice, medical treatment, or professional care in any way. This article is not intended to be and should not be a substitute for professional care, advice or treatment. Please consult with your physician or healthcare provider before changing any health regimen. This article is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent disease of any kind. Read our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
