Alcohol consumption is a significant cause of cancer in Europe, according to a new report from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) cancer research arm. Experts emphasize that stronger government action to reduce drinking could prevent thousands of cancer cases and deaths each year.
In the European Union—the region with the highest alcohol consumption in the world—more than 111,000 new cancer cases in 2020 were linked to alcohol, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Globally, alcohol was responsible for an estimated 741,000 cases, with men accounting for nearly 70% of them.
The economic impact is also severe. WHO estimates that premature deaths from 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 and broken families, as well as 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 Contributes to Cancer
Alcohol was first classified as carcinogenic by IARC in 1988. It increases the risk of at least seven cancers: those of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, liver, colorectum, and female breast.
Researchers say alcohol promotes cancer through multiple pathways, including altering hormone levels, damaging DNA via oxidative stress and acetaldehyde (a toxic metabolite of ethanol), and disrupting the gut microbiome.
Cutting back or quitting alcohol reduces the risk of developing these cancers. Most alcohol-related cancer cases are linked to “risky” (two to six drinks per day) and “heavy” drinking (over six drinks per day), but even “moderate” drinking (fewer than two drinks daily) accounted for more than 100,000 new cancer cases worldwide in 2020.
Strategies to Reduce Risk
This analysis is the first by IARC to evaluate the benefits of preventing alcohol-related cancers. It concludes that population-level alcohol control policies effectively reduce consumption—and that lower consumption translates into lower cancer risk.
IARC recommends measures such as higher taxes, setting minimum prices, raising the legal drinking age, limiting alcohol outlet density, restricting sales hours or days, banning alcohol advertising, and introducing government-controlled alcohol sales.
Such strategies have proven effective. One 2021 study found that doubling alcohol excise taxes could have prevented 6% of new alcohol-related cancer cases and deaths in 2019 across WHO’s European region.
“Raising awareness about the cancer risks of alcohol—and the fact that no level of drinking is safe—is essential,” said Dr. Béatrice Lauby-Secretan, deputy head of IARC’s evidence synthesis and classification branch. “Everyone has a role to play in changing social norms around alcohol consumption.”
