Does alcohol cause cancer?
On this page
Yes. Alcohol causes cancers of the mouth, throat, voice box, esophagus and liver, and raises the risk of breast and colorectal cancer. In 2019 it was behind nearly 100,000 of the 1.8 million cancers diagnosed in the US, about 5%.
Most people think of cancer risk from alcohol as something for heavy drinkers, and plenty still think of red wine as good for you. The International Agency for Research on Cancer put alcohol in its top group of cancer causes in 1987, and NCI says even light drinkers can be at higher risk of some cancers.
What we’d do
If you drink, drink less, because less is lower risk at every level. You don’t need to quit to lower it, and stopping helps at any age. If your face turns red when you drink, take it as a much stronger reason.
How alcohol causes cancer
Your body turns alcohol into acetaldehyde, a chemical NCI calls toxic and a probable human carcinogen, which can damage DNA and proteins. Breaking it down also makes reactive molecules that can damage DNA, proteins and fats, and alcohol gets in the way of how the body takes up some vitamins, according to NCI.
Think of sun on skin. Each exposure adds a little damage, nobody can point to the day that mattered, and the total over the years is what sets your risk.
How much risk?
NCI gives these risks against people who don’t drink.
| Cancer | Light drinking | Heavy drinking |
|---|---|---|
| Mouth and throat | 1.1 times as likely | 5 times as likely |
| Esophagus (squamous cell) | 1.3 times | 5 times |
| Voice box | 0.9 times | 2.6 times |
| Liver | not given | 2 times |
| Breast | 1.04 times (1.23 for moderate) | 1.6 times |
| Colorectal | not given | 1.2 to 1.5 times for moderate to heavy |
Those are relative risks, and NCI points out what they mean in real numbers. For a rare cancer, a big multiple is still a small chance. For a common one like breast cancer, a small multiple adds up to a lot of people.
The US Surgeon General’s advisory turned that into people, using Australian data counted in US drinks. Among 100 women who have less than one drink a week, about 17 will develop an alcohol-related cancer. At one drink a day it’s 19, and at two a day about 22. For men it’s 10, 11 and 13. NIAAA says even one drink a day can raise a woman’s breast cancer risk by 5% to 15%.
Does red wine protect you?
NCI says researchers have found no link between moderate red wine and the risk of prostate or colorectal cancer, and a recent analysis found no difference between red and white wine for cancer overall.
The people at highest risk
About 36% of East Asians flush when they drink, mostly because of a gene variant in ALDH2 that lets acetaldehyde build up. NCI says people with that variant who drink even moderate amounts have a higher risk of esophageal and head and neck cancers than other drinkers at the same amount. Why do I get red when I drink has the numbers.
Does stopping help?
Yes. NCI says stopping is linked with lower risks of mouth and esophageal cancers, and possibly throat, breast and colorectal cancers. It can take years for the risk to fall to that of someone who never drank, and NCI says it’s never too late to stop. The Your week tool shows your week in real US drinks, which is the place to start cutting.
4 sources
- National Cancer Institute, Alcohol and Cancer Risk, reviewed May 2, 2025cancer.gov
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Women and Alcohol, updated December 2025niaaa.nih.gov
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Drinking Levels and Patterns, updated January 2026niaaa.nih.gov
- Brooks PJ and others, The alcohol flushing response: an unrecognized risk factor for esophageal cancer from alcohol consumption, PLoS Medicine, 2009journals.plos.org
