Although alcohol consumption is a known leading preventable cause of cancer, public awareness of the connection may remain concerningly low in the United States, according to a recent study published by Domgue et al in JAMA Oncology.
Background
Consuming alcohol has been linked to at least seven types of cancers—including colorectal, breast, hepatic, oral, laryngeal, pharyngeal, and esophageal cancers. Each year, alcohol-related cancers result in over 20,000 deaths in the United States; however, nearly 70% of U.S. adults report consuming alcoholic beverages. In January 2025, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory detailing how alcohol increases the risk of cancer and calling for a new health warning label on alcoholic beverages.
“Despite the well-established association between alcohol and cancer, alcohol consumption has continued to rise in the [United States],” stressed senior study author Sanjay Shete, PhD, Deputy Division Head of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. “Our findings suggest that many individuals are unaware of the significant benefit in reducing or eliminating alcohol intake. Simply put, the more an [individual] drinks, the greater their risk of developing cancer,” he added.
Study Methods and Results
Investigators used data from the 2022 Health Information National Trends Survey to examine the responses of nearly 6,000 U.S. adults to a question regarding the link between alcohol and cancer: “Have you ever heard or read that alcohol increases the risk of cancer?”
The researchers found that just 40% of the respondents recognized alcohol as a cancer risk, 39% of them weren’t aware of the connection, and 20% of them weren’t certain whether they had heard or read about the association.
Awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer was lowest among Black respondents (30%), those with some college education or less (35.2%), and those who didn’t believe cancer prevention was possible (31.5%). Alternatively, the respondents with a cancer history had a higher likelihood of being aware of the connection.
Conclusions
Study limitations included the design of the survey, which didn’t allow researchers to establish a causal relationship between awareness and selected variables.
“Given we now know there is an increased risk of cancer, even at low levels of alcohol consumption, it is imperative to improve public awareness,” underscored Dr. Shete. “We hope these findings encourage clinicians to speak with their patients directly and that the immediate revision of drinking guidelines becomes a national priority,” he concluded.
Disclosure: The research in this study was funded by the National Cancer Institute and the Betty B. Marcus Chair in Cancer Prevention. For full disclosures of the study authors, visit jamanetwork.com.
