The US Surgeon General wants alcohol to warn about cancer. That’s why

Drinking a glass of wine a day has often been touted as a healthy choice for your heart. Although there are warnings against using other substances, such as cigarettes, alcohol in moderation is generally considered good – but this can change.

The US Dietary Guidelines for Americans urges people to avoid large amounts of alcohol and suggests sticking to two or fewer drinks a day for men and one or fewer drinks a day for women.

However, The latest recommendation from US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy suggests that even small amounts of alcohol can cause harm and may increase the risk of cancer.

“Alcohol is a well-known preventable cause of cancer, causing about 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 cancer deaths in the United States each year—that’s more than the 13,500 alcohol-related deaths in U.S. traffic accidents , but most Americans are unaware of this risk,” advises the surgeon general states.

His recommendation points to research that has found a clear link between alcohol consumption and a higher risk of developing seven types of cancer, including breast cancer.

“We now know that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption and that alcohol is a known carcinogen,” says Dr. Faiz Bhoraprofessor of surgery and regional department of surgery at Hackensack Meridian Health and Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine.

“Its mechanism of cell damage was clearly known. It causes oxidative stress and impairs DNA repair, among other mechanisms that lead to cell cycle dysregulation and cancer formation.”

The surgeon general is urging makers of alcoholic beverages like beer and spirits to update warning labels to take cancer risks into account. Currently, drinks contain mostly alcohol warn against consumption by pregnant people and driving under the influence of alcohol.

“These social and political pressures prevent us from doing the right thing, which would actually be to put a warning label on an obviously toxic substance,” Bhora tells CNBC Make It.

“Shares of alcohol makers, including Molson-Coors and Anheuser-Busch, initially fell more than 1% after the advisory,” CNBC said. reported.

Even previous claims about the positive effects of a glass of red wine a day are being questioned. Previous studies that have shown that a small amount of alcohol daily can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease require their methodology, according to The New York Times.

“It would be hard to find any benefit from drinking alcohol,” says Bhora. “Maybe a reduction in stress with some emotional impairments (but) I’m not even sure if that’s necessarily a good thing.”

“We’ve always heard these tales of 80- and 90-year-olds leading healthy lifestyles and attributed it to a glass of wine or a scotch. I’m not sure there’s any real scientific correlation to that,” he said. adds.

Alcohol consumption is deeply ingrained in our culture, says Bhora, and “people use it as a crutch for social interactions (and) for emotional reasons.” However, people are now “very comfortable giving up alcohol at a restaurant or party for health reasons, and I think that’s a path that should be encouraged and supported as a first step.”

For starters, Bhora suggests that “getting away from the concept of one drink a day is good or safe,” he says. Try to only drink alcohol on the weekends when you’re cutting back, and gradually cut it out of your diet entirely if you feel the urge, says Bhora.

“When many of my friends and colleagues who either stopped drinking or cut back significantly, (they) found it liberating,” says Bhora.

“They no longer need it for social interactions, they have much greater clarity of thought, and in many cases they actually become much more productive.”

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