Alcohol consumption is a major driver of cancer across Europe, according to a new report by the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The agency urges stronger government policies to reduce drinking, which could prevent thousands of cancer cases and deaths each year.
Within the European Union — the region with the highest alcohol consumption in the world — alcohol was responsible for over 111,000 new cancer cases in 2020. Globally, the figure reached an estimated 741,000 cases, with men accounting for nearly 70 percent of them.
The economic burden 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 costing billions to taxpayers,” said Dr. Gundo Weiler, who leads prevention and health promotion at WHO Europe. “Some call alcohol a ‘cultural heritage,’ but disease, death, and disability should not be normalized as part of European culture.”
How Alcohol Contributes to Cancer
Alcohol was first classified as a carcinogen by IARC in 1988. It increases the risk of at least seven cancers — those of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus, liver, colorectum, and female breast.
Researchers believe alcohol promotes cancer through several biological pathways, including hormone disruption, changes in the gut microbiome, and DNA damage caused by oxidative stress and acetaldehyde, a toxic byproduct of alcohol metabolism.
Reducing or eliminating alcohol intake can significantly lower cancer risk. Most alcohol-related cancers are linked to “risky” drinking (two to six drinks per day) or “heavy” drinking (more than six drinks daily). However, even moderate consumption — fewer than two drinks per day — accounted for over 100,000 new cancer cases worldwide in 2020.
Reducing the Risks
This analysis marks the first time IARC has evaluated the benefits of preventing alcohol-related cancers. The agency concludes that comprehensive, population-wide policies to reduce alcohol consumption are proven to lower cancer risk.
It recommends interventions such as higher alcohol taxes, minimum pricing, raising the legal drinking age, limiting the number of alcohol retailers, restricting sales hours, banning alcohol advertising, and introducing government-controlled sales systems.
For example, a 2021 study found that doubling alcohol excise taxes could have prevented 6 percent of new alcohol-related cancer cases and deaths in 2019 in the WHO European region, which includes Europe and Central Asia.
“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 to play in changing the current norms and values surrounding alcohol consumption.”
