There was a time, as many of us will remember, when we were told that moderate drinking—one drink per day for women or two drinks per day for men—was safe. In fact, a glass or two of wine was good for your heart. We were even told that moderate drinkers lived longer than nondrinkers.
The message was wrong. In 2018, a major study in the Lancet found that drinking more than five glasses of wine (or beer) weekly is as bad for your health as smoking. But a recent Gallup poll found that about six out of 10 people over age 55 still believe moderate drinking is not a health risk.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), no amount of alcohol is safe or has any health benefits. Studies have shown any alcohol consumption increases cancer risk even with consumption of less than one drink per day. They recommend complete avoidance of alcohol for cancer prevention. Here are the hard facts according to WHO:
The flashing-light warning on drinking alcohol, even in moderation, is based on a mountain of evidence that buried older studies from more than 25 years ago. These studies compared moderate drinkers to anyone who said they don’t drink, which included many older adults who had stopped drinking for health reasons. When newer studies compared moderate drinkers to people who were never drinkers, all the benefits of moderate drinking disappeared.
A 2024 study published in the American Medical Society journal JAMA Network Open suggests that people over age 60 are at the highest risk from alcohol-related cancers. In this study, health records of over 135,000 current alcohol drinkers in the United Kingdom were analyzed over 12 years. The researchers looked for early deaths, cancer deaths, and cardiovascular disease (heart attack or stroke) deaths. The research team then compared these deaths in people who were occasional drinkers with those who were high-risk drinkers. Occasional drinkers were men or women who reported less than two drink per week. High-risk drinking was three or more drinks per day for men and one to two drinks per day for women. The average age of people in the study was 64 at the start of the study. High-risk drinkers showed a 33 percent higher risk of early death from any cause, a 39 percent higher risk of dying from cancer, and a 21 percent higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, compared with people who drank only occasionally. What was surprising was that even low-risk drinkers, people who reported one drink or less per day, had an 11 percent higher risk of dying from cancer than the occasional drinkers.
According to the CDC, cancers that have been strongly linked to moderate use of alcohol now include cancers of the mouth, throat, larynx, esophagus, liver, colon, rectum, and breast. Cancers linked to three or more drinks per day now include cancers of the stomach and pancreas. These cancers may be caused by all alcoholic drinks including red wine, white wine, beer, or hard liquor. The science now shows that alcohol damages cellular DNA. Over time, damaged DNA can become cancer DNA, which causes uncontrollable growth of cancer cells.
The CDC and other health organizations are also stressing the dangers of excessive drinking, which includes binge drinking and heavy drinking. Binge drinking is four or more drinks at a time for women or five or more for a man. You are considered a heavy drinker if you are a man who has 15 or more drinks in a week or a woman who has eight or more. Excessive drinking also includes any drinking under age 21 and any drinking during pregnancy. In addition to the risk of cancer, excessive drinking has been linked to motor vehicle deaths, alcohol poisoning, alcohol use disorder, miscarriage, stillbirth, fetal alcohol syndrome, high blood pressure, heart disease, liver disease, stroke, anxiety, depression, and dementia.
Alcohol is almost as much a part of human history as eating. It has always been enjoyed and abused. It is the most accessible and acceptable of all drugs. Americans spend about $100 million on alcohol every year, and alcohol is as freely advertised as any other food products. It is hard to imagine a world where alcohol is avoided as much as smoking, but we may be getting there. According to the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, each year alcohol causes almost triple the number of deaths as all other drugs combined, and that includes tobacco and opioids.
The message from the Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, and the American Society of Clinical Oncology is loud and clear. If you don’t drink, don’t start. If you can stop drinking, you should, and never drink excessively. If you choose to drink, be aware of the risks. If you wouldn’t smoke, don’t drink either.
