A customer drinks a glass of beer on the Saxton Pub in Austin, Texas, April 5, 2023.
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The U.S. surgeon general issued a recent advisory warning Friday concerning the link between alcohol consumption and increased cancer risk, and pushed for policy changes to assist reduce the variety of alcohol-related cancers.
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said there’s a “well-established” link between drinking alcohol and no less than seven sorts of cancer, including breast, colorectum, esophagus and liver. For cancers including breast, mouth and throat cancers, increased risk may start around one or fewer drinks per day, in response to his office.
As a part of the advisory, the surgeon general called for policy changes that might help reduce alcohol-related cancer. He pushed for alcohol labels to be more visible and include a warning concerning the increased risk of cancer, to reassess really helpful limits for alcohol consumption based on the newest research and expand education to extend general awareness that alcohol consumption increases cancer risk.
The efforts outlined within the advisory are just like those already implemented to reduce tobacco use, including a slew of mandated warnings on packaging and in stores.
The surgeon general advised people to think about the link between alcohol consumption and greater cancer risk when deciding whether to drink or how much to have.
Alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable reason behind cancer within the U.S., behind only tobacco and obesity, in response to the advisory.
“Alcohol is a well-established, preventable reason behind cancer answerable for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the USA — greater than the 13,500 alcohol-associated traffic crash fatalities per yr within the U.S. — yet nearly all of Americans are unaware of this risk,” Murthy said in a press release.
Shares of alcohol manufacturers including Molson-Coors and Anheuser-Busch initially dipped greater than 1% following the advisory.
In accordance with the advisory, 72% of U.S. adults said they’d a number of drinks per week between 2019 and 2020, but lower than half of all adults are aware of the link between drinking and cancer risk.
Worldwide, 741,300 cases of cancer were attributed to alcohol consumption in 2020, in response to the surgeon general.
On average, alcohol-related cancer deaths shorten the lives of those that die by 15 years.
Younger Americans are already increasingly stepping away from alcohol, and lots of are leaning into nonalcoholic alternatives. About two-thirds of adults ages 18 to 34 say alcohol consumption negatively affects health, versus lower than 40% of individuals ages 35 to 54, and 55 and over, in response to a Gallup survey released in August.
