How Much Alcohol Does It Take To Increase Cancer Risk?

Alcohol is, of course, unhealthy. Not even the famous “small glass of red” is recommended:

Can We Drink To Good Health?

Alcohol also increases all-cause mortality at any dose (even “low-risk drinking”):

Alcohol Consumption Patterns and Mortality Among Older Adults

…and the World Health Organization has declared that the only safe amount of alcohol is zero:

WHO: No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health

But what of alcohol and cancer? According to the American Association of Cancer Research’s latest report, more than half of Americans do not know that alcohol increases the risk of cancer:

Source: AACR Cancer Progress Report

Why/how does alcohol increase the risk of cancer?

There’s an obvious aspect and a less obvious but very important aspect:

• The obvious: alcohol damages almost every system in the body, and so it’s little surprise if that includes systems whose job it is to keep us safe from cancer.
• The less obvious: alcohol is largely metabolized by certain enzymes that have an impact on DNA repair, such as alcohol dehydrogenases and aldehyde dehydrogenases, amongst others, and noteworthily, acetaldehyde (the main metabolite of alcohol) is itself genotoxic.

Read more: Alcohol & Cancer

This is important, because it means alcohol also increases the risk of cancers other than the obvious head/neck, laryngeal, esophageal, liver, and colorectal cancers.

However, those cancers are of course the most well-represented of alcohol-related cancers, along with breast cancer (this has to do with alcohol’s effect on estrogen metabolism).

If you’re curious about the numbers, and the changes in risk if one reduces/quits/reprises drinking:

❝The increased alcohol-related cancer incidence was associated with dose; those who changed from nondrinking to mild (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 1.03; 95% CI, 1.00-1.06), moderate (aHR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.02-1.18), or heavy (aHR, 1.34; 95% CI, 1.23-1.45) drinking levels had an associated higher risk than those who did not drink.

Those with mild drinking levels who quit drinking had a lower risk of alcohol-related cancer (aHR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.92-0.99) than those who sustained their drinking levels.

Those with moderate (aHR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.03-1.12) or heavy (aHR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.02-1.12) drinking levels who quit drinking had a higher all cancer incidence than those who sustained their levels, but when quitting was sustained, this increase in risk disappeared.

Results of this study showed that increased alcohol consumption was associated with higher risks for alcohol-related and all cancers, whereas sustained quitting and reduced drinking were associated with lower risks of alcohol-related and all cancers.

Alcohol cessation and reduction should be reinforced for the prevention of cancer.❞

Source: Association Between Changes in Alcohol Consumption and Cancer Risk

Worried it’s too late?

If you’re reading this (and thus, evidently, still alive), it isn’t. It’s never too late (nor too early) to reduce, or ideally stop, drinking. Even if you already have cancer, drinking more alcohol will only exacerbate things, and abstaining from alcohol will improve your chances of recovery.

For a reassuring timeline of recovery from alcohol-related damage, see:

What Happens To Your Body When You Stop Drinking Alcohol

Want to stop, but have tried before and find it daunting?

There are a few ways to make it a lot easier:

Rethinking Drinking: How To Reduce Or Quit Alcohol

Take care!