US surgeon general wants cancer warnings about alcohol. here’s why

Having one glass of wine a day has often been touted as a heart-healthy option. While there are warnings against using other substances such as cigarettes, alcohol in moderation is generally considered good, but that may be changing.

He US Dietary Guidelines for Americans encourages people to avoid large amounts of alcohol and suggests limiting themselves to two or fewer drinks per day for men and one or fewer drinks per day for women.

However, the The latest warning from US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy suggests that even small amounts of alcohol could be harmful and increase the risk of developing cancer.

“Alcohol is a well-established and preventable cause of cancer, responsible for about 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States – more than the 13,500 alcohol-related traffic deaths per year in the United States.” “However, most Americans are unaware of this risk,” said the Surgeon General’s Advisory Council. states.

Its notice points to studies that have found a clear link between alcohol consumption and an increased risk of developing seven types of cancer, including breast cancer.

“We now know that there is no safe level for alcohol consumption and that alcohol is a known carcinogen,” he says Dr. Faiz Bhoraprofessor of surgery and regional chair of surgery at Hackensack Meridian Health and Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine.

“Its mechanism of cellular damage has been well established. It causes oxidative stress and impairs DNA repair, among other mechanisms that lead to cell cycle deregulation and cancer formation.”

The Surgeon General is asking manufacturers of alcoholic beverages such as beer and spirits to update warning labels to include the risk of cancer. Currently, drinks containing alcohol mainly They warn against consumption by pregnant people and driving under the influence of alcohol.

“It’s more social and political pressures that prevent us from doing the right thing, which would actually be putting a warning label on a substance that is clearly toxic,” Bhora tells CNBC Make It.

“Shares of alcohol makers, including Molson-Coors and Anheuser-Busch, initially fell more than 1% following the warning,” CNBC reported.

Even previous claims that having a glass of red wine a day has positive effects are in doubt. Previous studies that have shown that a small amount of alcohol a day can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease are being questioned for their methodology, according to The New York Times.

“It would be difficult to find benefits in consuming alcohol,” says Bhora. “Maybe a reduction in stress with impairment of some emotional faculties (but) I’m not even sure if that’s necessarily a good thing.”

“We’ve always heard these stories of people in their 80s and 90s living healthy lives and they kind of attribute it to a glass of wine or scotch. I’m not sure there’s a real scientific correlation with that,” he said. duck.

Alcohol consumption is deeply ingrained in our culture, Bhora says, and “people use it as a crutch for social interactions (and) for emotional reasons.” However, people now “feel very comfortable refusing alcohol in a restaurant or at a party for health reasons, and I think it is an avenue that should be encouraged and supported as a first step.”

For starters, Bhora suggests that “moving away from the concept of one drink every day is good or safe,” he says. Try to drink alcohol only on weekends if you’re cutting back, and slowly eliminate it from your diet completely if you feel inclined to do so, says Bhora.

“When many of my friends and colleagues stopped drinking alcohol or significantly reduced their consumption, they found it liberating,” says Bhora.

“They no longer need it for social interactions, they have much more clarity of thought and, in many cases, they end up being much more productive.”

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