Alcohol consumption is a major contributor to cancer in Europe, according to a new report from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) cancer research agency. Experts say that stronger government action to reduce drinking could prevent thousands of cancer cases and deaths every year.
In the European Union — the region with the world’s highest alcohol consumption — alcohol was responsible for more than 111,000 new cancer cases in 2020, the report from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) revealed. Globally, alcohol use was linked to an estimated 741,000 cancer cases that year, with men accounting for nearly 70 percent of them.
The financial burden is also significant. WHO estimated that premature deaths caused by alcohol-related cancers cost €4.58 billion in 2018.
“The WHO European Region, and especially EU countries, are paying too high a price for alcohol in preventable cancers, family suffering, and billions in taxpayer costs,” said Dr. Gundo Weiler, head of prevention and health promotion at WHO Europe. “Some call alcohol a ‘cultural heritage,’ but disease, death, and disability should not be accepted as part of European culture.”
How Alcohol Causes Cancer
Alcohol was first classified as a carcinogen by IARC in 1988. It increases the risk of at least seven cancers — including those of the mouth, throat, larynx, oesophagus, liver, colon, and female breast.
Researchers say alcohol contributes to cancer through several mechanisms: altering hormone levels, damaging DNA via oxidative stress, affecting the gut microbiome, and producing acetaldehyde, a toxic byproduct of alcohol metabolism. Reducing or quitting alcohol can lower the risk of developing these cancers.
Most alcohol-related cancers are associated with “risky” (two to six drinks per day) or “heavy” (more than six drinks per day) drinking. However, even “moderate” consumption — fewer than two drinks daily — was responsible for over 100,000 new cancer cases worldwide in 2020.
Strategies for Prevention
This is the first time IARC has assessed the potential benefits of alcohol-related cancer prevention. The agency concluded that broad alcohol-control policies effectively reduce consumption — and lower cancer risk.
Recommended measures include higher taxes, minimum pricing, raising the legal drinking age, limiting alcohol retail density, reducing sales hours, banning alcohol marketing, and expanding government control over sales.
Such strategies have proven successful: one 2021 study found that doubling alcohol excise taxes could have prevented 6 percent of new alcohol-related cancer cases and deaths in 2019 across the WHO European region.
“Raising awareness about the cancer risks of alcohol — and the fact that no level of drinking is safe — is critical,” said Dr. Béatrice Lauby-Secretan, deputy head of IARC’s evidence synthesis and classification branch. “Everyone has a role in reshaping social norms and values around alcohol use.”
