Surgeon General Gins Up a Questionable Drinking Causes Cancer Scare
Our national health scold, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, issued an advisory on his way out of office, asserting that drinking beer, wine, and liquor is “a leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States.” The report warns that for some cancers, “evidence shows that this risk may start to increase around one or fewer drinks per day.” It is worth noting that the current U.S. dietary guidelines suggest that alcohol consumption should be limited to two drinks per day for men and one per day for women.
Specifically, Murthy’s advisory asserts that drinking is associated with an “increased risk for at least seven different types of cancer, including breast (in women), colorectum, esophagus, liver, mouth (oral cavity), throat (pharynx), and voice box (larynx).”
Inexplicably, Murthy did not address the comprehensive review of evidence on alcohol and health issued two weeks earlier by the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NAS).
Contrary to the surgeon general’s claims, the NAS report determined that “no conclusion could be drawn regarding an association between moderate alcohol consumption and oral cavity, pharyngeal, esophageal, or laryngeal cancers.” In addition, the NAS report determined that “no conclusion could be drawn regarding the association between moderate alcohol consumption compared with lifetime nonconsumers and risk of colorectal cancer.” Interestingly, a June 2024 study in Scientific Reports, not cited by either the NAS or Murthy, found that moderate drinking “was a protective factor for colorectal cancer.” The NAS did find with moderate certainty that moderate drinking was associated with a slight increase in the risk of female breast cancer.
But even Murthy’s advisory notes that only 17 percent of the 20,000 or so annual cancer deaths associated with drinking occurred among moderate drinkers. Assuming that Murthy’s figures are correct, then only about 3.2 percent of the annual 609,000 cancer deaths last year are attributable to drinking alcohol. Of those, moderate drinking contributed to 3,400 deaths last year, amounting to just 0.
Article from Reason.com
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