Doctors warn of “large and related to the increase” of alcohol -related cancer deaths in the United States, which have been affected by the worst

A shocking new study finds that the number of alcohol -related deaths in the United States has doubled almost in the last two decades.

This is the first study to examine long -term trends in alcohol -related cancer deaths throughout the country and was led by a team of the Sylvester Under Cancer Center, which is part of the Medicine School of Miami Miller University.

But not all demographic data have been affected equally.

Alcohol, classified as carcinogen in Group 1 by the International Cancer Research Agency, is the third avoidable cause of cancer in the United States, after tobacco and obesity.

Earlier this year, the former General Surgeon of the United States, calling for a warning label to alcoholic products, issued advice by warning the North -Americans of the strong bond between alcohol consumption and an increase in the risk of “ at least seven types of cancer ”, including chest, colon and liver.

In this new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers used data from the overall disease loading database to understand how alcohol consumption contributes to cancer -related deaths.

His research revealed that in the United States between 1990 and 2021, the total number of cancer deaths related to alcohol was almost doubled, from less than 12,000 deaths a year to just over 23,000.

“This is a great and important. We have to increase the awareness of this bond between the general and even medical population,” said Sylvester Hematology and Oncology Fellow, Dr. Chinmay Jani, who led the study.

Jani said that, although there is widespread awareness of the relationship between tobacco and the risk of cancer, there is less recognition of the bond between alcohol and cancer.

A report of 2024 of the American Association for Cancer Research found that, while more than 5% of all cases of cancer are caused by drinking alcohol, 51% of North -Americans are not aware that alcohol increases the risk of cancer.

Researchers reviewed deaths from total cancer, as well as those linked to alcohol consumption: breast, liver, colorectal, throat, voice box, mouth and esophageal cancers.

Jani and his team found that cancer mortality burden was especially high in 55 -year -old men, alcohol -linked cancer mortality slightly increased more than 1% each year from 2007 to 2021.

Increased cancer mortality rates related to alcohol is almost completely due to an increase among men. In women, rates have declined slightly since 1990.

However, even for cancers with a decrease in mortality rates, the proportion caused by alcohol for almost all of them increased between 1990 and 2021, for both men and women.

Among all combined cancers, the percentage of cancer deaths due to alcohol consumption increased by almost 50% between 1990 and 2021, which means that even if improved screening and treatment are reducing cancer death, alcohol consumption is responsible for a higher percentage of cancer mortality than in the past.

Liver, colorectal and esophageal cancers saw the most significant increases in alcohol -related mortality.

At the state level, Texas and the Columbia district had the highest rates of alcohol -related cancer mortality, while Utah had the lowest.

Researchers think that these differences could reflect the regional differences in drinking cultures, as well as socio -economic disparity and variations in access to health.

According to the general surgeon, alcohol is responsible for 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths in the country each year.

1 in 6 cases of breast cancer can be attributed to alcohol.

There are some ways of drinking can contribute to a greater probability of developing cancer.

One is the acetaldehyde, a known carcinogen that the body creates when it breaks the ethanol in alcohol. This compound damages DNA and prevents cells from repairing damage, allowing cancer cells to grow.

It can also affect hormones, which affect the way cells grow and divide. When this goes wrong, there is room for cancer to develop. In addition, drinking interferes with the ability of the body to absorb nutrients such as iron, selenium, folate and vitamins A, B1, B6, C, D, E and K.

Excess alcohol intake can contribute to weight gain, and having an overweight or obese has been linked to a higher risk of obtaining 13 types of cancer, including those of the breasts, the liver, the ovaries, the kidneys, the thyroid and the colon and the rectum.

“We hope that our study will help educate the public about the impact of alcohol on individual cancer risk, as this is a potentially modifiable factor,” said Gilberto Lopes, MD, head of the Sylvester Medical Oncology Division and author of the study.

In addition to reducing or eliminating alcohol consumption, experts recommend other modifiable factors such as stopping tobacco, greener food, leafy vegetables and whole grains, reducing or eliminating highly processed foods, maintaining a healthy body weight and physically active, all of which can reduce the risk of cancer.

For those who choose to consume alcohol, 2020-2025 dietary guidelines for Americans suggest limiting intake to no more than one day drink for women and two drinks a day for men.