Alcohol and Cancer: A Risk Most Young Adults Don't Know About

With Memorial Day weekend drawing people together for celebrations, researchers are raising a warning that doesn't get nearly enough attention: drinking alcohol raises the risk of cancer, and most young adults have no idea.

Researcher Darren Mays with the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center says alcohol is linked to at least seven types of cancer, including colorectal, liver, mouth, throat, voice box, and esophageal cancer. For women, the risk hits especially close to home. "Most American adults just aren't aware that alcohol increases the risk of cancer," Mays said, adding that breast cancer is the most common alcohol-related cancer among women, according to the CDC.

The numbers behind that gap are striking. Mays says his team found that less than one third of young adult women recognize that drinking raises their breast cancer risk. Starting to drink at a younger age makes the concern more serious. "Drinking at an earlier age puts young women at risk, not only of a higher risk of lifetime breast cancer, but also what we call early onset breast cancer," he said.

Mays says decades of research have explored how diet, smoking, and physical activity affect cancer risk, but awareness around alcohol has lagged behind. Part of his current work focuses on closing that gap by going directly to young women to learn what kinds of messages would actually change behavior. "What kind of messages would capture their attention and lead them to think more about their drinking behavior," he said, "and potentially change their drinking behavior."