Alcohol-related cancer deaths in the US have climbed sharply over the past three decades, with new research showing that the burden extends well beyond liver cancer and is particularly pronounced among older men.
Researchers from Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine examined more than 30 years of Global Burden of Disease data. The study found that annual cancer deaths attributed to alcohol increased from 11,361 in 1990 to 23,126 in 2023, more than doubling over the period. The research was published in August in The Lancet Regional Health.
These findings further contribute to a public health issue that has been raising concerns in recent times: cancer is a risk not only for heavy drinkers but also light drinkers. Research quoted in connection with this study suggests that drinking 5 to 15 grams of alcohol per day can increase the chances of developing cancer. In the USA, an alcoholic drink contains around 14 grams of alcohol.
Alcohol-linked cancers extend far beyond the liver
The analysis connected alcohol consumption with a higher risk of death from several forms of cancer, including breast, prostate, colon, rectal, stomach, pancreatic and liver cancers, as well as cancers affecting the head and neck.
Alcohol is still commonly associated most strongly with liver disease. The study points to a considerably wider cancer burden, affecting both men and women across different age groups.
Alcohol has long been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the category used for substances known to cause cancer in humans. Tobacco smoke and asbestos are also included in that classification.
Older men recorded one of the clearest increases
One of the study’s most notable findings concerned men aged 55 and older. Their alcohol-related cancer mortality rate rose by nearly 24% over the 33-year period covered by the research.
The pattern of cancer deaths also differed between men and women.
Among men, liver cancer showed the strongest association with alcohol-related deaths, followed by esophageal and colorectal cancers. Among women aged 55 and above, breast cancer was the leading alcohol-linked cancer killer, ahead of liver and colorectal cancers.
The findings suggest that the health impact of alcohol cannot be viewed through a single-cancer lens. The type of cancer carrying the greatest burden varies by sex, while older adults appear to face especially significant effects.
One drink a day enters the risk conversation
The study arrives amid continuing discussion about how much alcohol can be considered low risk.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines a standard US drink as containing 0.6 ounces, or 14 grams, of pure alcohol. Research referenced in connection with the findings has linked increased cancer risk to intake starting at between 5 and 15 grams per day.
That does not mean every person who drinks one alcoholic beverage a day will develop cancer. It does mean that the level associated with increased risk can begin at an amount many consumers may regard as modest.
The National Cancer Institute has also outlined several ways in which alcohol may contribute to cancer development. Its estimates for 2019 attributed about 5% of the 1.8 million cancer cases diagnosed in the US that year, close to 100,000 cases, to alcohol consumption. Alcohol was also linked to about 4% of roughly 600,000 cancer deaths, or nearly 25,000 deaths.
Cancer deaths due to alcoholic drinks have already entered the policy debate
The health risks associated with alcohol have increasingly become part of the debate over consumer warnings.
Former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy previously described alcohol use as the country’s third-leading preventable cause of cancer, behind tobacco and obesity. He also called for cancer-risk warning labels to be placed on alcoholic beverages.
These figures provide the most recent debate with a stark quantitative context. The alcohol-related deaths by cancer did not just increase marginally during the period under study; they increased from 11,361 per year in 1990 to over 23,000 in 2023.
At the same time, the findings show why the issue is more complex than the familiar link between drinking and liver cancer. Breast, colorectal, esophageal, pancreatic and several other cancers also form part of the alcohol-related mortality picture.
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