Public Awareness of Alcohol-Cancer Link Unchanged: Study

Public awareness of the link between drinking and increased cancer risk remains unchanged since February 2025, with over half of Americans saying that regularly consuming alcohol increases your chances of developing cancer later.

That's the conclusion of a new study by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania.

The survey was conducted about a month after the U.S. Agriculture Department released its 2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which recommended limiting alcohol consumption for better health. The prior edition specifcally warned that that "Alcohol has been found to increase risk for cancer, and for some types of cancer, the risk increases even at low levels of alcohol consumption (less than 1 drink in a day)."

This what the more than 1,650 U.S. adults polled by Annenburg told the researchers:

• Over half (53%) say that regularly consuming alcohol increases your chances of later developing cancer—statistically unchanged from 56% who said this in February 2025;
• 16% say alcohol consumption has no effect on cancer risk, also statistically unchanged from February 2025;
• Over a quarter (29%) are not sure how alcohol consumption affects cancer risk, statistically unchanged from 26% in February 2025.

When it removed the warning linking alcohol consumption to cancer from the guidelines, the USDA turned its back on a substantial body of research," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center. "The Surgeon General's finding that alcohol consumption raises cancer risk gained attention. A clear, strong statement in the dietary guidelines could have amplified that impact—and helped to save lives."