Your gift is 100% tax deductible.
Drinking Alcohol May Raise the Risk of 4+ Cancer Types
Study shows that drinking even one alcoholic drink a day is associated with a higher risk of developing cancers of the mouth, throat, voice box, and esophagus.
Photo by Chris G Unsplash
It is best not to drink alcohol. That's the recommendation from The American Cancer Society Guideline for Diet and Physical Activity for Cancer Prevention. People who choose to drink alcohol should limit their consumption to no more than 2 drinks a day for men and 1 drink a day for women.
What was studied and why?
Cancers in the upper aerodigestive tract (which include the mouth, throat (pharynx), and voice box (larynx) in the respiratory system and the esophagus in the upper digestive system) represent about 7% of all cancers around the world. In 2022, about 1.3 million new cases of upper aerodigestive tract cancer and 830,000 deaths were reported globally.
Most of these cancers are squamous cell carcinomas. Squamous cells line the surface of skin as well as the interior surfaces of the mouth, throat, esophagus, and other organs.
Previous studies have provided extensive evidence that the more alcohol a person drinks, the higher their risk is for developing cancer in the lining of one of these organs. Alcohol and its main metabolite, acetaldehyde, can contribute to the development of aerodigestive cancers through DNA damage and inflammation.
Several American Cancer Society (ACS) Population Science researchers collaborated with researchers from around the world to better understand how associations between alcohol consumption and squamous cell cancers in the upper aerodigestive tract may differ by sex, types of alcohol used, geographic region, body mass index (BMI), and smoking status.
They analyzed a large sample of data from more than 2 million participants across 28 prospective cohorts from 4 continents (Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America). The cohorts included the ACS Cancer Prevention Study-II Nutrition Cohort (CPS-II NC). Since nondrinkers in the study included former drinkers who may have stopped drinking because of poor health, the researchers focused their study on current drinkers. During a median follow-up of 16 years, almost 7,000 cases of cancer were reported.
How Many Grams of Alcohol Are in a Drink?
A standard drink of alcohol is defined as:
- 12 ounces of beer
- 5 ounces of wine
- 1.5 ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits
Each of these standard drinks contains approximately 14 grams of ethanol, the primary form of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages.
From the ACS Guideline for Diet and Physical Activity for Cancer Prevention
What did the researchers find?
The researchers found that drinking any amount of alcohol was associated with a higher risk of developing cancer in the upper aerodigestive tract.
Specifically, they found:
Even low levels of alcohol consumption were linked to an increased risk of cancer. Compared with people who drank very little alcohol (less than 5 grams a day), consuming up to about 1 drink a day was associated with a 12% higher risk of developing an upper aerodigestive tract cancer.
The more alcohol people consumed, the higher their risk for cancer. Associations with the risk of cancer increased steadily as the amount of alcohol consumed increased.
The association was higher in women than men. Compared to people who drank very low amounts of alcohol (less than 5 grams a day), women who drank up to 1 alcoholic beverage a day had an 18% higher risk of developing cancer, while men had a 9% higher risk. Among those who drank more than 4 drinks a day (60 or more grams of alcohol), women had about a 4 times higher risk of cancer, and the risk for men was about 3 times higher.
Differences between men and women may be related to how alcohol is metabolized in the body. Women may have higher and longer-lasting blood alcohol levels after drinking the same amount as men.
People with a healthy weight had a higher association between drinking alcohol and the risk of developing an upper aerodigestive cancer than those with overweight or obesity. The reasons are not fully understood but may involve differences in the way people metabolize alcohol.
The risk of developing cancer varied somewhat by geographic region. These differences may reflect differences in drinking patterns, sociocultural norms, and other factors that were not measured in the study.
Alcohol appeared to increase the risk of cancer regardless of whether or not someone smoked. The relationship between the amount of alcohol consumed and the risk of cancer was similar among people who currently smoked and those who had never smoked, suggesting that alcohol may be an independent risk factor for upper aerodigestive tract cancers. However, because smoking itself raises the risk of cancer, people who both smoke and drink alcohol are likely to have a higher risk for developing cancer.
Where might this study lead?
The study findings further support both the current ACS Diet and Physical Activity Guideline for Cancer Prevention and the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) Cancer Prevention Recommendations.
These guidelines recommend that everyone avoid drinking alcohol to lower their risk of developing cancer and to follow lifestyle strategies to reduce the amount of alcohol they drink.
The strengths of this study were its design and the inclusion of a large number of participants across the world.
An important area for future research: Studying genetic data and detailed lifetime patterns of alcohol consumption and binge drinking, which this study did not include.
Published study: “Alcohol consumption and upper aerodigestive tract squamous cell carcinoma: evidence from 28 prospective cohorts” published in the JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, September 2025. ACS coauthors were Marjorie McCullough, PhD (former ACS researcher), Marissa Shams-White, PhD, and Caroline Um, PhD, MPH, RD.
