Alcohol consumption is a major driver of cancer across Europe, according to a new report from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Experts warn that stronger government policies to limit drinking could prevent thousands of new cancer cases and deaths each year.
In the European Union — the region with the highest alcohol consumption globally — alcohol was responsible for over 111,000 new cancer cases in 2020, the report found. Worldwide, alcohol caused an estimated 741,000 cancer cases, with men making up nearly 70% of those affected.
The economic impact is also severe. WHO data show 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 public costs,” said Dr. Gundo Weiler, head of prevention and health promotion at WHO’s Europe office. “Some call alcohol a ‘cultural heritage’, but disease, death, and disability should not be normalised as part of European culture.”
How Alcohol Causes Cancer
Alcohol was first classified as a carcinogen by IARC in 1988. It increases the risk of at least seven types of cancer, including cancers of the mouth, throat, larynx, oesophagus, liver, colorectum, and breast.
Researchers say alcohol promotes cancer through several biological mechanisms, such as hormonal changes, alterations in the gut microbiome, and DNA damage caused by oxidative stress and acetaldehyde — a toxic byproduct of alcohol metabolism.
Reducing or eliminating alcohol consumption can lower cancer risk.
The report notes that most alcohol-related cancers occur among people who drink two to six alcoholic beverages per day (“risky” drinking) or more than six per day (“heavy” drinking). However, even “moderate” drinking — less than two drinks per day — accounted for over 100,000 new cancer cases worldwide in 2020.
Strategies to Lower Risk
For the first time, IARC’s analysis also assessed how public policies can prevent alcohol-related cancers. The findings show that population-level alcohol control measures effectively reduce consumption — and therefore cancer risk.
IARC recommends policies such as higher alcohol taxes, minimum pricing, increasing the legal drinking age, limiting retail availability, restricting sales hours, banning alcohol advertising, and implementing state-controlled alcohol sales systems.
According to a 2021 study, doubling alcohol excise taxes could have prevented about 6% of alcohol-related cancer cases and deaths in the WHO European Region in 2019.
“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 norms and values surrounding alcohol consumption.”
