By Miriam Fauzia, The Dallas Morning News
In 1942, during its fight against the Soviet Union, Finland launched a novel campaign to keep the Red Army at bay: Raitis tammikuu, or “Sober January.” The monthlong sobriety challenge – one of the first Dry Januarys in history – was meant to encourage Finns to lay off the bottle while also conserving scant wartime resources.
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Nowadays, Dry January isn’t so much a fight against invading forces as it is about a reset heading into a new year.
Alcohol has already taken center stage in 2025 after the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued an advisory calling for warning labels highlighting the risk of cancer in drinking boozy beverages earlier this month.
“Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States – greater than the 13,500 alcohol-associated traffic crash fatalities per year in the U.S. – yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk,” Murthy said in a statement. “This Advisory lays out steps we can all take to increase awareness of alcohol’s cancer risk and minimize harm.”
Across the globe, some countries have introduced forms of health warning labels on alcoholic drinks. But only a few, like South Korea and soon Ireland, have explicit labels warning of the risk of cancer and other negative health consequences.
But considering how socially ingrained alcohol is, the arrival of the surgeon general’s advisory begs the question: Is it possible to sip smarter in a world where every pint or cocktail comes with a side of caution?
A research smorgasbord
The connection between cancer and alcohol may come as news to the general public, but it’s not for scientists and clinicians, said Dr. Mack Mitchell, a gastroenterologist and professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
“There’s a large background of information on alcohol and health that’s accumulated over the last not 10 years, but 50 years,” said Mitchell, who is also a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse. “The issue about cancer began to be recognized back in the 1980s, and the first thing that came up was a small but real association between drinking and breast cancer in women. I think there’s no question that this has been confirmed many, many times.”
Cancer occurs through different biological mechanisms, some of which involve ethanol — the main chemical component of alcoholic beverages — and other chemicals produced when we metabolize beer or a glass of wine, said Dr. Flavio Rocha, surgical oncologist and physician-in-chief at the Oregon Health and Science University’s Knight Cancer Institute.
“Alcohol can also increase inflammation through reactive oxygen species that we know can damage DNA,” Rocha said. “Alcohol hormonal changes particularly in estrogen, which is the mechanism thought to be causative for breast cancer and potentially liver cancer, as well.”
Yet, other studies have suggested that alcohol consumption, particularly in moderation, may be associated with positive health benefits such as longevity.
This perception, in particular, was popularized in the 1990s with the “French Paradox,” an observation that the French enjoy low rates of heart disease despite their rich, fatty diets. The secret to their good health? Imbibing red wine regularly.
But no studies to date have conclusively proved that drinking red wine offers any health benefits. And recent years have called into question the methodology of studies linking moderate alcohol drinking to health.
A 2024 review of 107 studies on drinking habits and longevity found the data suggested moderate drinkers — those enjoying anywhere between a drink a week and two a day — had a 14% lower risk of dying during the study period compared to those who abstained from alcohol. This link disappeared, however, when the researchers dug deeper into the data. In high-quality studies, which included younger people and made sure former and occasional drinkers weren’t considered abstainers, there was no evidence that light to moderate drinkers lived longer. In the lower quality studies, which involved older participants and made no distinction between former drinkers and lifelong abstainers, moderate drinking was linked to greater longevity.
Problematic methodology aside, other studies have also found socioeconomic status plays a major role in determining the health benefit of alcohol. For example, it’s been observed that people on the higher end of the socioeconomic ladder may consume similar or greater amounts of alcohol compared to people on the lower end but it’s the latter group that bears the burden of poorer health.
“There are many things related to our socioeconomic and educational levels that may contribute and, therefore, could be confounders to the alcohol effect,” Mitchell said. “And that’s where a lot of the controversy exists, whether the benefit of so-called ‘moderate’ drinking is related to drinking or related to your socioeconomic status. It’s very hard to separate the two.”
Mileage may vary
The current U.S. guidelines for alcohol consumption is two drinks a day or less for men and one drink a day or less for women. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, a standard drink is defined as either:
12 fluid ounces of regular beer with an alcohol content of 5%
5 fluid ounces of table wine with an alcohol content of 12%
A 1.5 fluid ounce shot of distilled spirits with an alcohol content of 40%
Even with these guidelines, alcoholic beverages don’t have explicit labeling informing consumers of how their drink compares to the standard, said Matthew Rossheim, associate professor of health administration and health policy at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth.
“I’ve done research where I’ve given people cans of alcohol products like a 14% 23 and a half-ounce Four Loko. People will guess that it has two or three standard drinks but it’s really closer to a six-pack of beer in a single can,” he said.
Rossheim said the guidelines also don’t reflect the inventory of high volume alcohol products currently on the market.
“[Those guidelines] are dated because it assumes that there’s 5% beer when a lot of the products now are 8%, 12%, even 14 or 16%,” Rossheim said. “Some people don’t realize that what they’re drinking is low-end liquor rather than a beer type product, so that’s a huge issue.”
So should you cut alcohol out of your life entirely? While Mitchell, Rocha and Rossheim said there isn’t a safe amount when drinking alcohol, saying no to a nightly glass of Pinot Noir — or a cannabis-infused cocktail — is easier said than done.
If you already don’t drink alcohol, it’s best not to start now. If you do currently drink, Mitchell and Rocha said it’s best to stay within the standard guidelines and have a conversation with your health care provider to get an idea of what an acceptable amount looks like for you. That’s because one’s risk of cancer or other negative health consequences depends on many different factors, such as age, health status, lifestyle, genetics and family history.
Mitchell also endorses taking advantage of Dry January to evaluate your relationship with alcohol.
“If you don’t make it through Dry January, and your intent was to do so,” Mitchell said, “then you might want to rethink your relationship with alcohol and why you’re drinking.”
Miriam Fauzia is a science reporting fellow at The Dallas Morning News. Her fellowship is supported by the University of Texas at Dallas. The News makes all editorial decisions.
©2025 The Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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