Alcohol: Weighing the Benefits and Risks

Peer Review Status: Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, Cancer Information Service
First Published: July 2000
Last Revised: May 2003

Recently the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services listed alcohol as a carcinogen or cancer-causing substance. Alcohol has been linked with cancers of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, and liver, and probably increases the risk of breast and colon/rectal cancers. The increase in risk is even more dramatic in individuals who drink and smoke.

A great deal of research is now focusing on how alcohol is involved in cancer development. Findings show that cancers of the mouth, pharynx, esophagus, and larynx develop when sensitive tissues are directly exposed to alcohol. How alcohol contributes to the development of breast and colon/rectal cancers is still being explored.

The risk of cancer escalates with increased consumption of alcohol and may start to rise with intake of as few as two drinks per day. A drink is defined as 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, and 1.5 ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits.

What can you do to lower your cancer risk?

• Limit your consumption of alcohol, if you drink at all.
• If you choose to drink, do so in moderation. That's no more than 2 drinks a day for men and one for women.*

*A woman's body on average has more fat and less muscle than a man's body. Alcohol can be diluted into muscle tissue, but not into fat. Therefore alcohol cannot be diluted as quickly in a woman's body. Women, on average, also can't metabolize alcohol as quickly as a man, so alcohol stays in a woman's bloodstream longer.