

Alcohol
According to a famous series of papers in the Journal of the American Medical Association called the “Actual Causes of Death in the United States,” the leading killer of Americans in the year 2000 was tobacco, followed by diet and inactivity. The third-leading killer? Alcohol. About half of alcohol-related deaths were due to sudden causes like motor vehicle accidents; the other half were slower, and the leading cause was alcoholic liver disease.
Excessive alcohol consumption can lead to an accumulation of fat in the liver (known as fatty liver), which can cause inflammation and result in liver scarring and, eventually, liver failure. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines excessive drinking as the regular consumption of more than one drink a day for women and more than two a day for men. A drink is defined as 12 ounces of beer, 8 ounces of malt liquor, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces (a “shot”) of hard liquor. Progression of the disease can usually be halted by stopping drinking, but sometimes it’s too late.
Once alcohol-induced hepatitis (liver inflammation) is diagnosed, three-year survival rates can be as high as 90 percent among people who stop drinking after diagnosis. But as many as 18 percent of them go on to develop cirrhosis, an irreparable scarring of the liver.
Alcohol consumption may also play a role in pancreatic cancer, among the most lethal forms of cancer, with just 6 percent of patients surviving five years after diagnosis. As many as 20 percent of pancreatic cancer cases may be a result of tobacco smoking, and other modifiable risk factors include obesity and heavy alcohol consumption.
Similarly, the primary risk factors for esophageal cancer include smoking and heavy alcohol consumption (though even light drinking appears to increase risk), as well as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD, also called acid reflux).
What about cancer of the breast? In 2010, the official World Health Organization body that assesses cancer risks formally upgraded its classification of alcohol to a definitive human breast carcinogen. In 2014, it clarified its position by stating that, regarding breast cancer, no amount of alcohol is safe.
But what about drinking “responsibly”? In 2013, scientists published a compilation of more than one hundred studies on breast cancer and light drinking (up to one alcoholic beverage a day) and found a small but statistically significant increase in breast cancer risk even among women who had at most one drink per day—except, perhaps, for red wine. Why red wine? A compound in it appears to suppress the activity of an enzyme called estrogen synthase, which breast tumors can use to create estrogen to fuel their own growth. This compound is found in the skin of the dark-purple grapes used to make red wine, which explains why white wine appears to provide no such benefit, since it’s produced without the skin.
The researchers concluded that the grapes in red wine may help cancel out some of the cancer-causing effects of the alcohol. But you can reap the benefits without the risks associated with imbibing alcoholic beverages by simply drinking grape juice or, even better, eating the purple grapes themselves—preferably ones with seeds, as they may be most effective at suppressing estrogen synthase.
The information on this page has been compiled from Dr. Greger’s research. Sources for each video listed can be found by going to the video’s page and clicking on the Sources Cited tab. References may also be found at the back of his books.
Popular Videos for Alcohol


The Best Source of Resveratrol
Is there any benefit to resveratrol? If so, should we get it from wine, grapes,...
Is It Better to Drink a Little Alcohol Than None at All?
Even if alcohol causes cancer and there is no “French paradox,” what about the famous...
Do Any Benefits of Alcohol Outweigh the Risks?
What would happen if you effectively randomized people at birth to drink more or less...
What Explains the French Paradox?
Why do heart attack rates appear lower than expected in France, given their saturated fat...
Breast Cancer and Alcohol: How Much Is Safe?
Nearly 5,000 breast cancer deaths a year may be attributable to just light drinking (up...
Breast Cancer Risk: Red Wine vs. White Wine
Modest lifestyle changes that include the avoidance of alcohol may cut the odds of breast...
Resveratrol Impairs Exercise Benefits
Research on resveratrol, a component of red wine, looked promising in rodent studies, but what...All Videos for Alcohol
-
Does Tongue Scraping Cause Cancer?
Tongue cleaning should be carried out gently with low pressure to avoid unnecessary tissue trauma.
-
The Best Diet for Cancer Patients
What diet should oncologists recommend?
-
Diet and Lifestyle for Cancer Prevention and Survival
What kind of diet should cancer patients eat?
-
Using the Cigarette Tax Playbook Against Big Food
How might we replicate one of our great public health victories—the reduction of smoking rates—in the field of nutrition?
-
The Best Diet for Treating Atrial Fibrillation
What foods should we eat and avoid to reduce our risk of Afib?
-
How Much Does Meat Affect Longevity?
If you care about your health so much that it would be unthinkable to light up a cigarette before and after lunch, maybe you should order a bean burrito instead of a meaty one.
-
Supplements for Hair Growth
Might biotin or zinc supplements prevent hair loss in men and women?
-
IARC: Processed Meat Like Bacon Causes Cancer
How did the meat industry, government, and cancer organizations respond to the confirmation that processed meat, like bacon, ham, hot dogs, and lunch meat, causes cancer?
-
Do Potatoes Increase the Risk of High Blood Pressure and Death?
Do potato eaters live longer or shorter lives than non-potato eaters?
-
Fighting the Ten Hallmarks of Cancer with Food
The foundation of cancer prevention is plants, not pills.