Study: One drink a day may increase the risk of dying from numerous cancers

(CNN) — Alcohol may play a greater role in death from numerous types of cancers in the United States than previously known, according to a new study.

“While it’s true that overall cancer mortality has declined, we found the percentage of cancer deaths proportionally attributable to alcohol rose over 58% in people 20 and older over the last 33 years,” said the study’s first author Dr. Chinmay Jani.

The increased risk of death applies to breast, prostate, colon, rectum, stomach, pancreatic and liver cancers, as well as cancers of the head and neck, the research found.

“Overall, we know alcohol is closely related to liver cancer mortality,” said Jani, chief clinical fellow in hematology and oncology at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center of the University of Miami.

“Notably, among adults aged 20 to 54, colorectal cancer was the leading cause of alcohol-attributable cancer mortality in men and the second leading cause in women, surpassing liver cancer in both groups,” he said. “In women, the leading cause was alcohol-related breast cancer.”

It didn’t take much alcohol to raise one’s risk — about one standard drink a day, every day, Jani said. In th...