If you weren't aware that drinking alcohol can increase your risk of cancer, you're apparently in good company. A new study from MD Anderson Cancer Center published in JAMA Oncology found that just 37.1% of adults knew that drinking alcohol increased their risk of cancer. More than half of the 7,000 Americans who were surveyed—52.9%—thought alcohol had "no effect" on cancer risk, while about 1% of respondents stated that alcohol lowers cancer risk.
Science Daily reports the World Health Organization considers alcohol a Group 1 carcinogen—placing it in the same risk category as tobacco and asbestos. Alcohol is linked to at least seven types of cancer, including breast and liver cancer, and is responsible for roughly 5.5% of new cancer cases and nearly 6% of cancer deaths globally, by the National Institutes of Health's count. The researchers noted their study was the first to explore "individuals' beliefs about the effect of alcohol on cancer risk in the post–COVID-19 pandemic era, a period marked by sustained increases in alcohol consumption."
A press release notes the study found people who had recently consumed alcohol were more likely to believe that drinking alcohol doesn't impact one's cancer risk. Lead author Sanjay Shete was unnerved by the findings. "It's concerning that people who drink alcohol are the ones most likely to believe it has no effect on cancer risk. Given people's beliefs play a critical role in whether they choose healthier behaviors, we need to work on correcting these misperceptions, which could be essential to reducing the growing burden of alcohol-related cancers."
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