United States: As the new year begins, This Dry January takes center stage, which is somehow accompanied by a new advisory from the U.S. Surgeon General about alcohol’s link to the major cancer risk. While moderate drinking was actually once seen as beneficial for heart health but like some recent research has challenged that view.  

“Drinking less is a great way to be healthier,” says Dr. Timothy Naimi, director of the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research. 

On Friday, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy urged the inclusion of the risk of cancer in the existing surgeon general’s health warning label on alcohol-containing beverages. His proposal would need backing of Congress. 

What is wrong with taking alcohol? 

As reported by the Associated Press, like for every other type of cancer, alcohol consumption is known to increase the risk of colon cancer, liver cancer, breast cancer and mouth and throat cancer. Alcohol decomposes in the human body into something called acetaldehyde which alters your cell’s state and makes them unable to repair themselves. That makes the environment for cancer to develop. 

Adherence to the government’s dietary guidelines could prevent thousands of American deaths annually, Naimi added. 

Those guidelines encourage males to consume not more than two drinks a day and females not more than one drink a day. Basically one could mean one 12-ounce can of beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine or also like one shot of liquor. 

From Murthy advisory alcohols causes around 100000 new cancer cases and around 20000 cancer deaths per year in America. 

“In thinking about whether or how much to drink, remember that it is always better to consume less when it comes to cancer,” Murthy noted on X on Friday. 

What about moderate drinking? 

The concept that wine and beer consumption is good for our health originated from studies that imperfectly compared two groups of people based on their alcohol consumption. Often, that has been evaluated at only one time.  

But not one of the studies used a true control group which meant that they couldn’t demonstrate that drinking and not drinking were having a cause-and-effect relationship. 

Consumers who described their alcohol use as moderate actually consumed more overall, and these individuals had better education, income, and access to health care, said Naimi. 

As it happens, if one controls for these factors, tends to balance out or become reversed, the researcher said.