The US Surgeon General has called for warning labels on alcohol highlighting the link between booze and cancer.
Dr Vivek Murthy today issued a new advisory recommending that all alcoholic beverages include a cigarette-style warning on their packaging.
He said that while text was good, research from other countries had shown that pictures showing the health effects of smoking would work better for alcohol.
Alcohol is as one of the leading preventable causes of cancer in the US, the advisory notes, contributing to nearly 100,000 cancer cases and about 20,000 cancer deaths each year.
Research over the past four decades or so has revealed a ‘causal relationship’ between alcohol use and increased risk for at least seven different types of cancer, including of the breast, colon, liver and throat.
Labels currently printed on bottles and cans of alcoholic beverages warn about the dangers of drinking while pregnant or before driving and operating other machinery.
However, Dr Murthy says the label statement – which has remained unchanged since its inception in 1988 – should be amended to warn of alcohol-related cancer risks.
Dr Murthy says that warning labels with pictures or ones that have messages that change regularly have been found to be most effective
Looking to other countries for inspiration, his advisory notes: ‘There are 47 countries that require alcohol warning labels related to health and safety.
‘South Korea requires a cancer-specific warning, and spurred by existing evidence, Ireland signed into law a new requirement to display a cancer warning label on alcohol-containing beverages starting in 2026.
‘This label will state: “There is a direct link between alcohol and fatal cancers.”‘
In terms of consumption, the advisory warns the more alcohol consumed, the greater the risk of cancer.
For certain cancers, like breast, mouth, and throat cancers, ‘evidence show that this risk may start to increase around one or fewer drinks per day.’
And when it comes to the types of alcohol linked to an increased cancer risk, the experts say the link still stands ‘regardless of the type of alcohol (e.g., beer, wine, and spirits)’.
In terms of how alcohol causes cancer, the advisory says there are ‘four distinct ways’ that it works inside the body.
First, alcohol breaks down into acetaldehyde once it is consumed. Acetaldehyde is a substance that causes cancer by binding to DNA and damaging it.
When DNA is damaged, a cell can begin to grow uncontrollably and create a cancerous tumor.
Dr Vivek Murthy says labels on alcohol should be updated as matter of priority to include risks related to cancer
Second, alcohol generates ‘reactive oxygen species, which increase inflammation and can damage DNA, proteins, and lipids in the body through a process called oxidation’.
Thirdly, alcohol alters hormone levels (including estrogen), which the experts say can play a role in the development of breast cancer.
And lastly, carcinogens from other sources, especially particles of tobacco smoke, can dissolve in alcohol, making it easier for them to be absorbed into the body, increasing the risk for mouth and throat cancers.
In addition updated labeling, Dr Murthy has made a number of other recommendations, which include reassessing recommended limits for alcohol consumption.
The current US Dietary Guidelines currently recommend that American men should consume no more than two alcoholic drinks a day and women should consume no more than one alcoholic beverage per day.
It defined an alcoholic beverage as a drink that contains about 14 grams of pure alcohol, equivalent to one regular beer, one glass of wine, or one shot of spirits.
For decades, studies suggested that there was some benefit to drinking moderate amounts of alcohol, which was thought to be linked to its destressing effects.
But in recent years, research has swung the other way.
The new Dietary Guidelines will be published in 2026 and it is believed that Americans could soon be urged to drink no more than two bottles of beer or glasses of wine per week.
The guidelines will eventually be signed off on by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
These will be headed up by Donald Trump-appointments which could include Robert F. Kennedy Junior as HHS chief.
Both Donald Trump – a lifelong teetotaler – and Robert F. Kennedy Junior – a former addict – do not drink alcohol.
Sources close to RFK Jnr. say they believe he’d back the new guidelines – but would want to see the evidence on which the recommendation is based.
More than 60million Americans report binge drinking at least once a year, and on average Americans who drink alcohol say they consume about four alcoholic beverages per week.
The National Cancer Institute says that about 75,000 cancer cases are estimated to be linked to alcohol each year, including cancers of the liver, head and neck, esophagus and colon.
The CDC says that about 20,000 adults die every year from alcohol-related cancers.