Surgeon General Issues Report on Alcohol and Cancer Risk

Nearly three out of every four adults in the U.S. reports drinking alcohol once a week. But most people don’t know that alcohol can increase the risk of developing cancer. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy wants this to change.

In January 2025, Murthy issued a 22-page report highlighting alcohol use as a leading preventable cause of cancer in the U.S. Alcohol use contributes to 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 cancer deaths in the U.S. each year.  

“For certain cancers, like breast, mouth, and throat cancers, evidence shows that this risk may start to increase around one or fewer drinks per day,” Murthy wrote. 

Because of these serious risks — and because many people aren’t aware of them — the surgeon general proposed adding a warning about cancer risk to the label already required for alcoholic beverages. The current label (from 1988) warns about drinking while pregnant or driving, and includes a general warning about health risks. The surgeon general also recommended a change to the current recommended daily limits on drinking. 

How should you interpret all this? What if you already had a breast cancer diagnosis? Should you stop drinking? The short answer: Drinking less — or not at all — is better than drinking more. Here’s what else you need to know.

Scientists have known about the link between alcohol and cancer since the late-1980s. Since then, studies have shown that alcohol increases the risk of developing at least seven types of cancer: 

• Sponsor Message

  breast 

• Sponsor Message

  mouth

• Sponsor Message

  throat 

• Sponsor Message

  voice box 

• Sponsor Message

  esophagus 

• Sponsor Message

  liver 

• Sponsor Message

  colon and rectum 

According to the surgeon general’s report, alcohol ups the risk of breast cancer more than any other cancer in women. In 2019, more than 44,000 breast cancer cases (about 16% of the total cases) were related to alcohol use.

The current national Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020–2025, released in 2020, recommends limits of two drinks daily for men and one drink daily for women. But studies show that even having one drink a day — in other words, following the guidelines — also increases breast cancer risk. The surgeon general cited a study showing that about 17% of alcohol-related cancer deaths in 2021–2022 were in people whose alcohol intake did not exceed those guidelines. This amounts to 650 deaths that year that could possibly have been avoided — which is why the surgeon general is proposing a change to these guidelines.

Drinking even a bit of alcohol per day can increase your risk of breast cancer risk. One study found that women who consumed about one drink per day had about a 10% increased risk of breast cancer compared with those who didn’t drink. 

And the risk of breast cancer increases the more you drink. Another study found that the absolute risk of developing breast cancer over a lifetime rose from about 11% in women who drank less than one drink per week to about 15% for those who drank two drinks per day.

Scientists still have a lot to learn about the links between alcohol and cancer. But studies suggests that there are at least four ways that alcohol makes the body more susceptible to cancer:

• Sponsor Message

  alcohol damages DNA

• Sponsor Message

  alcohol increases inflammation

• Sponsor Message

  alcohol alters hormone levels

• Sponsor Message

  alcohol makes it easier for the body to absorb cancer-causing substances in the environment 

If you want to do everything you can to lower your breast cancer risk, limiting how much alcohol you drink makes sense. You may choose to stop drinking alcohol completely. But if you plan to continue drinking, try to have as few alcoholic drinks per week as possible.