Buzz kill: Alcohol is linked to 7 forms of cancer, study finds

Smoking cigarettes. Genetics. Being overweight. Eating processed and red meat. Working around radiation or chemicals.

We expect all of these to be contributing risk factors to cancer. There's something most of us indulge in on a regular basis, though, that has been linked to cancer.


The most surprising cause of cancer is alcohol — and studies show that even moderate and low use still raises the risk for drinkers compared to non-drinkers.

According to a recent study published in the scientific journal Addiction, alcohol is directly linked to seven different forms of cancer.

We've all heard that a glass of wine is good for you, though. What about the recent news that drinkers outlive non-drinkers?

It seems that the risks of drinking alcohol far outweigh any health benefits.

"There is no argument, on current evidence, for a safe level of drinking with respect to cancer," Jennie Connor, the author and a professor of epidemiology at Otago University in New Zealand, wrote in the analysis.

So how bad is it?

It's been shown that alcohol causes cancer of the liver, colon, rectum, esophagus, larynx, pharynx and female breast.

In fact, roughly 5.8% of total cancer-related deaths, or nearly half a million deaths, were directly caused by alcohol in 2012, scientists determined last year.

The highest risk is to the heaviest drinkers but even low and moderate drinkers saw higher rates of cancers than abstainers. Those who use tobacco along with alcohol had significantly higher incidences of cancers.

Research has also shown that drinkers who give up alcohol can reverse their risk of laryngeal, pharyngeal and liver cancer, and that the longer they abstain the lower their potential risk is.

If you aren't ready to completely abstain from alcohol, reducing your alcohol consumption can keep your chances of developing alcohol-related cancers low. That means limiting to yourself to no more than six 6-ounce glasses of wine weekly or about nine 12-ounce beers.

A small wine glass typically holds about 9 ounces and larger glasses hold 12 to 14 ounces.

Surpassing the recommended minimum is fairly easy to do. A dinner out with a bottle of wine or a weekend watching football and you might have already hit your limit for the week.

When deciding whether the drink is worth it, you might want to ask yourself if it's worth developing breast or liver cancer? Could you enjoy yourself just as much with a soft drink or coffee?