Risk of Cancer Higher for People Who Drink Alcohol, Even Moderately

• A new study found that light to moderate drinking is associated with increased cancer- and disease-related mortality in older adults.
• The findings corroborate mounting evidence showing the harmful effects of alcohol consumption, even for moderate drinkers.
• Public perception around alcohol is shifting, especially for young people, as more people choose to limit their consumption or avoid it altogether to preserve their health.

Everything in moderation — but with caveats.

As more research confirms the negative health effects of alcohol consumption, even in moderate amounts, long-held beliefs about the purported health benefits of the occasional drink or two are shifting.

A large new study published August 12 in JAMA Network Open found that moderate-level alcohol consumption had no benefit for older adults but raised disease-related mortality risk instead.

The findings are based on health records of more than 135,000 adults ages 60 and older in the United Kingdom with health-related or socioeconomic risk factors.

During initial interviews, participants were asked detailed questions about their alcohol use between 2006 and 2010. Using data from the UK Biobank, researchers found increases in cancer-related and all-cause mortality in low-, moderate-, and high-risk drinkers.

No associations for moderate drinkers without socioeconomic or health-related risk factors were found. However, low risk drinking was still associated with a higher risk of cancer mortality in this group, while moderate drinking continued to show greater chances of death from cancer and other causes.

Meanwhile, a new Gallup poll shows young people in the United States increasingly view alcohol as unhealthy.

“There is a pervasive myth that low or moderate alcohol consumption improves health outcomes,” David Cutler, MD , board certified family medicine physician at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA, told Healthline. Cutler was not involved in the study.

“Nothing could be farther from the truth. The fact is that population-wide studies demonstrate that any alcohol consumption can have a negative health impact. So, it is difficult to argue with the general conclusion that alcohol consumption may be dangerous to your health,” Cutler said.

Moderate drinking raises disease-related death risk

This new research highlights what many health experts have long suspected about moderate drinking, despite other studies that may have shown the inverse.

An older study published in 2000 suggests “significant” reductions in cardiovascular mortality risk from drinking red wine . More recently, a 2020 research review highlighted the health benefits of light and moderate alcohol consumption, including reduced cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

Current guidelines for moderate drinking continue to suggest up to 14 grams or 1 drink per day for females and up to 28 grams or 2 drinks per day for males on days when alcohol is consumed.

In the JAMA study, researchers defined moderate drinking as 20–40 grams of alcohol per day for males and 10–20 grams of alcohol per day for females. This range extends beyond the threshold for current moderate drinking guidelines.

The researchers reported the lowest alcohol-related mortality risks among individuals who consumed no more than 10 grams of alcohol daily (less than 1 standard drink ), which became more evident in those with higher socioeconomic status.

“The big picture of the health risks of alcohol should not be ignored,” Cutler said. “Cancer mortality was increased in even the lowest risk drinkers. And if health-related and socioeconomic factors were also present these risks were even greater. So, while some people may find excuses in light alcohol consumption because they lack risk factors for poor outcomes, moderate and heavy drinkers have no such safe haven.”

Daniel Landau, MD , board certified oncologist, medical director of virtual hematology at the Medical University of South Carolina, and contributor for the Mesothelioma Center, told Healthline that alcohol may have been exceptionally harmful to the older adults included in the study because they already had other health issues.

“People who are over the age of 60 often have other comorbidities such as diabetes or heart disease and are already at higher risks of developing cancers,” said Landau, who was not involved in the study. “Adding alcohol on top of these risks seemed to exacerbate these other medical conditions and possibly promote the risk of cancer development.”

Socioeconomic status linked to higher death risk from alcohol

Socioeconomic status was also an important factor researchers used to calculate alcohol-related disease risk.

Participants in this study were also mostly white, which means the findings do not account for alcohol’s effects on other racial demographics.

Of those who were classified as having light alcohol consumption, preferred wine , and drank only with meals, no negative health outcomes were reported.

“The theory is that many of these patients were typically of a higher socioeconomic status [and] had more access to care and less comorbidities,” Landau said. “With potentially having a lower rate of diabetes or other medical conditions, the alcohol may not have had the full detrimental effect it did on the rest of the population.”

More young people are avoiding alcohol

A new Gallup poll published on August 13 revealed nearly half (45%) of Americans believe that moderate alcohol consumption may be harmful to health.

This is a 6 percentage point increase from last year and a 17 percentage point increase from 2018, marking an all-time high for this survey over the past 20 years.

The shifting opinion about alcohol becomes more pronounced among young people.

Around 65% of adults ages 18 to 34 say alcohol negatively affects health. Indeed, there is a growing “sober curious” movement among Gen Zers.

Still, 37% of respondents ages 35 to 54 and 39% of those 55 and older agree that alcohol may cause harm.

Only 8% of people believe that alcohol may have a positive effect, which Gallup notes is the lowest on record.

“The history of alcohol consumption in our society has always been ambivalent about whether this substance is a tonic or a toxin,” Cutler said. “The evidence shows that alcohol, in any amount, can be harmful. Prudent people should give serious thought to whether any alcohol consumption is in the best interest of their overall health.”

Why is alcohol unhealthy?

Exposure to ethanol and formaldehyde is harmful to human health. Alcohol beverages contain these components in varying amounts.

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) , when alcohol is metabolized by the body, most of the ethanol consumed is broken down by the liver and transformed into a toxic compound called acetaldehyde, a known carcinogen that may lead to DNA damage .

While this acetaldehyde reaction is usually short-lived before it’s broken down into acetate, it may still lead to significant damage, particularly in the liver, where the majority of alcohol metabolism occurs.

Other studies have examined the harmful effects of formaldehyde in many alcoholic beverages, Landau noted.

A 2011 study , for instance, detected toxic formaldehyde in 132 of 508 alcohol beverage samples, which included beer, wine, spirits, and other sources of alcohol.

“The conversion of alcohol to formaldehyde is one of the prevailing theories as to why alcohol is detrimental to our organs, especially our liver,” Landau said. “It is very toxic, and excessive amounts of it are incredibly dangerous.”

Should you stop drinking alcohol?

The shift in public perception about alcohol and mounting evidence showing its potential harm has left many people wondering whether to limit their alcohol intake or avoid it entirely.

In 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that no amount of alcohol is safe.

The U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025 acknowledges the emerging evidence showing that drinking within the current recommendations may raise the risk of death from all causes, including cancer and heart disease, and advises caution.

However, a silver lining in the JAMA study suggests that having a drink only with meals could help lower the associated mortality risks.

“I remain a believer in ‘everything in moderation,’” Landau said. “However, people have their own theories on what moderation looks like. I generally advise my patients that having a drink with dinner on a weekend is acceptable, but once we start incorporating daily drinking, that starts to become more excessive.”

Takeaway

Public perception about alcohol is shifting as growing evidence shows the potential harm it may cause to human health.

A new study found that even moderate alcohol consumption had negative health outcomes for older adults of lower socioeconomic status.

While that risk was smaller for people of high socioeconomic status or those who only drank during meals, moderate drinking should still be approached with caution.