Federal health officials have withdrawn a report warning that even small amounts of alcohol can increase the risk of cancer and other serious illnesses, a move that has ignited debate among researchers, advocacy groups, and the alcohol industry.
The Alcohol Intake and Health Study, prepared for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), concluded that consuming as little as one drink per day raised the likelihood of liver cirrhosis, oral and esophageal cancers, and injuries. Authors said they were told the findings would not be sent to Congress as originally intended.
“What people need to know is that the risk of serious morbidities, mortality, and chronic disease increases as alcohol consumption increases—even at low levels,” co-author Katherine Keyes, an epidemiology professor at Columbia University, told The New York Times.
The report was one of two intended to guide updates to the federal Dietary Guidelines on alcohol consumption. A separate study from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) offered a different perspective, suggesting that moderate drinking may reduce overall mortality and lower rates of heart attacks and strokes compared with abstinence. However, it also acknowledged a small but measurable rise in breast cancer risk among women.
Some NASEM panelists faced scrutiny for ties to alcohol manufacturers, though the academy denied industry influence. The alcohol industry has strongly backed NASEM’s conclusions, dismissing the HHS-linked study as biased.
“The Dietary Guidelines should be guided by a preponderance of sound science, not the personal ideologies of a handful of researchers,” said Science Over Bias, an industry-supported advocacy group.
Public health advocates, however, accused HHS of suppressing critical data. “They’re burying the report so the information about the health consequences is not widely known,” said Mike Marshall, chief executive of the U.S. Alcohol Policy Alliance.
Researchers behind the withdrawn report said they plan to publish their findings in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
Emerging research has increasingly challenged the long-held notion that moderate alcohol consumption might be harmless—or even beneficial. Earlier this year, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy called for warning labels on alcoholic beverages, citing evidence linking alcohol to breast, colon, and at least five other cancers. Murthy estimated alcohol contributes directly to 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 cancer-related deaths annually.
Even the NASEM study noted that heavy drinking, even on occasion, can erase any potential benefits. “Drinking two drinks a day may be moderate from a social perspective, but when it comes to health, it’s a pretty risky amount,” said co-author Dr. Timothy Naimi, director of the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research. He added that men who average two drinks daily face a 1-in-25 chance of dying prematurely from alcohol use.
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