Dr. Sanjay Gupta

A 2025 Gallup poll showed only 54% of Americans say they consume alcohol.

That's the lowest number in 90 years.

And that trend is especially true for younger generations.

So the numbers are likely to go up in terms of people who simply aren't drinking.

But back to your question, does it have to be all or nothing?

What benefits can you get from just drinking less?

We'll get into it after a short break.

Okay, Ed, back to your question on how much of a difference it could make to decrease cancer risk if you drink less or even become abstinent.

First of all, let's start with some basic facts about the correlation between alcohol and cancer.

What exactly is going on here?

In terms of context, alcohol ranks third in terms of preventable causes of cancer in the United States.

There is a well-established link between drinking and cancer risk for certain types of cancer, including breast cancer, colorectal, esophageal, liver, mouth, throat, and voice box.

Now, this increased risk of cancer is associated with all types of alcohol, in case you're curious.

And perhaps no surprise, the risk does increase with greater consumption.

So those are the basic facts.

Next point, how does alcohol actually increase the cancer risk?

Well, the root cause of cancer are DNA mutations, which lead cells to grow out of control and then maybe spread to other parts of the body.

What alcohol does is it interferes with cell cycles.

It triggers long-term inflammation, and it damages DNA directly.

Alcohol can also affect hormone levels, including that of estrogen, which plays a particular role, for example, in breast cancer development.