Even Small Amounts of Alcohol Can Cause Cancer, Surgeon General Says [Video]

On Jan. 3, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a sobering report about the cancer risks linked to something that most Americans enjoy frequently: an alcoholic beverage.

In the advisory, Dr. Vivek Murthy outlined the substantial evidence behind the increased risk of developing seven types of cancers among people who consumed as little as one daily drink, or even fewer.

“What we know with a high degree of confidence is that there is a causal link between alcohol and cancer risk,” says Murthy. “The data has been building for some time and getting stronger and stronger.”

The advisory cites alcohol as the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the U.S. after tobacco and obesity and notes that there are about 20,000 alcohol-related cancer deaths in the country annually. That’s more than the yearly number of alcohol-associated traffic crash fatalities.

What’s especially concerning, Murthy says, is that 17% of these deaths occur …