Last week, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a new advisory about a link between alcohol consumption and cancer. He recommended putting labels on alcohol to detail the risk of cancer.

According to the report, alcohol consumption can lead to an increase in breast, G.I., rectum, colon, pancreas, liver, and stomach cancer.


Dr. Mark Baker, a family physician at LECOM said on men on average consume fourteen drinks a week and women consume seven drinks a week. He said right now he plans to talk to his patients about lowering their alcohol consumption and drinking in moderation. Dr. Baker said people should  consider making some life or health changes. According to Dr. Baker, "We try to get a feel for the amount they actually drink and go from there. Someone I think in moderation, the casual drinker, New Year's Eve, having a glass of champagne is not a big concern, but we would have to do more research. The key is the numbers have to go down, the fourteen and seven are felt to be too high. They probably have to be halved by that and go from there."

There is no set plan for a rollout of these warning labels if they were to happen. Dr. Baker said he wouldn't be surprised if people start to see them later this year.

Meantime, Dr. David Seastone, an oncologist with UPMC Hillman Cancer said about 90 percent of Americans know about the risk of smoking and cancer, but only 45 percent of people know about the risk of alcohol and cancer. He believed putting a label detailing the risks is a good start, but educating patients is even better. He said an occasional drink is okay, but daily drinking will increase someone's risk of cancer. Dr. Seastone described the how heavy drinking leads to cancer. 

"Alcohol has something called oxidants and it creates what's called oxidation stress. the chemicals can damage DNA in your cells and that's how cancer cells form, so that's one way, another is some of the breakdown products so the alcohol can just damage the cells, so its; direct chemical damage", said Dr. Seastone.

Dr. Seastone also said that increase alcohol can effect hormonal levels especially with estrogen which can lead to breast cancer and alcohol also allows carcinogens to be absorbed which also contributes to cancer.