You might want to pour yourself a tall glass of water for this one—there’s some not-so-great news about alcohol. It turns out that drinking might not be the healthiest choice after all. Surprising, right? You might have been enjoying that glass of Pinot, thinking it was good for your cholesterol levels, but it seems it could actually increase your cancer risk instead.
Public health experts are eager for British drinkers to take note of the cancer risks associated with alcohol. A group of medical and health organizations recently urged the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, to mandate that alcohol companies put “clear and bold” labels on their products to warn consumers about these risks.
As it stands, only about a quarter of countries actually require health warnings on alcohol, and even those are usually vague and printed in small letters. There’s a growing push for more straightforward messages. For instance, in 2016, South Korea mandated specific warning labels for alcohol, one of which mentioned links to liver cancer—though manufacturers can choose which labels to use and may not select the one related to cancer. In 2023, Ireland became the first country to legally require warning labels that directly link alcohol to fatal cancers, a law set to take effect next year.
The United States is considering a similar approach. Vivek Murthy, the U.S. surgeon general under Joe Biden, has called for alcohol warnings in a report issued in January. There’s some curiosity about how Casey Means, Donald Trump’s current nominee for surgeon general—who isn’t an active medical professional but is a wellness advocate—might approach these guidelines. She’s been quite vocal about the dangers of alcohol, albeit in a rather unique way. In one of her blog posts, she reflected that regular drinking makes it harder for her to feel connected to her spiritual self, adding, “I think alcohol needs to take a lesser role in my life.” So, there’s that.
Even though it might come off a bit paternalistic, I believe that clearer warning labels on alcohol could be a sensible idea. I mean, we all know alcohol isn’t great for us, but there’s a big difference between abstract knowledge and specific warnings at the moment of consumption. While it’s clear that few people mistakenly think of alcohol as a health product, many people just don’t grasp the risks—even for small amounts. There are definitely a lot of things I wish I had known earlier about drinking, like how you might not notice liver damage until it’s severe. I’m not completely done with drinking, but like many others, I find myself “sober curious.”
However, I can’t help but be doubtful about the “No amount of alcohol is safe” narrative pushed by the World Health Organization in 2023. Such an absolute stance can be easy to overlook or misinterpret, even possibly justifying binge drinking. If there’s no safe level, why not just go for broke? Some experts also argue that the “Every drop is evil” rhetoric lacks nuance. Two researchers from Harvard noted last year that the data doesn’t support sweeping claims about moderate drinking.
In 2018, a British expert named David Spiegelhalter pointed out that the public deserves more clarity about how much low-level alcohol consumption actually raises cancer risks. He remarked, “Claiming there’s no ‘safe’ level doesn’t seem to advocate for abstaining. There’s no safe level of driving, yet we don’t tell people to stop driving. And let’s be real, there’s no safe level of living, but we wouldn’t advise anyone to avoid living.” That last bit is a bit harsh but true: research indeed shows that life has a 100% risk of death. It’s a sobering thought, to say the least.
