There are lots of good health reasons for cutting down on alcohol – and reducing your cancer risk is one of them.
We have strong scientific evidence that all types of alcoholic drinks are a cause of several types of cancer:
For some cancer types, alcohol is particularly harmful if you also smoke.
To reduce your cancer risk as much as possible, we recommend not drinking alcohol at all. If you do choose to drink alcohol, follow national guidelines.
In the UK, the guideline is to drink no more than 14 units a week, spread over at least three days for both men and women. That’s like 6 pints of average-strength beer or 6 medium glasses of average-strength wine.
Lots of people in the UK drink more than this, but cutting down could make a big difference to your health.
> Our recommendation is don’t drink alcohol – find out how
Alcohol may make it easier for other dietary or environmental cancer-causing compounds, such as those in tobacco smoke, to get into the cells and cause DNA damage.
When alcohol is broken down in the body, compounds are formed that can directly damage the DNA, which can then lead to cancer.
Drinking alcohol can also lead to liver cirrhosis (scarring), which is a known cause of liver cancer.
Alcohol doesn’t have any benefits in terms of cancer prevention – in fact, drinking any amount increases your risk. So, to protect yourself against cancer as much as possible, we suggest not drinking alcohol at all.
The latest evidence suggests that the benefits of drinking alcohol for heart health are less than previously thought. Benefits are seen at low levels of consumption (less than 5 units, or 2.5–3 drinks a week) and only in specific population groups, whereas a healthy diet and lifestyle can protect most people against both cancer and heart disease.
Alcohol can be surprisingly high in calories. They are often called ‘empty calories’ because alcoholic drinks don’t contain vital nutrients such as protein, vitamins or fibre. The lack of fibre means it is easy to drink large volumes without feeling full.
> Try our handy alcohol calorie calculator to see how it adds to your calorie intake
| % of people who drank in previous week1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | 16-24 | 25-44 | 45-64 | 65+ |
| Men | 48 | 60 | 69 | 63 |
| Women | 48 | 49 | 60 | 49 |
Of the people in this survey, those aged 45 to 64 years old were most likely to have had a drink in the last week. Those in the 16 to 24 years age group were the least likely to have had a drink.
Of all the people that drank alcohol in the last week, 29% of men and 26% women had more than 8 units on the day that they drank most.
Download our Facts about alcohol factsheet
1 Alcohol statistics come from the Adult drinking habits in Great Britain dataset, Office of National Statistics.
