You are aware that drinking alcohol is bad for your health, but how bad is it? After all, two thirds of adults in the US report using alcohol occasionally or occasionally.
When we think of the health consequences of drinking, car accidents are more likely to come to mind than cancer. Two researchers with ties to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill say that this is mostly because the alcohol industry has blocked efforts to tell people about the health risks of drinking while pushing the idea that drinking can be good for health.
In a perspective piece for the New England Journal of Medicine, co-authors Anna H. Grummon, PhD, and Marissa G. Hall, PhD, suggest updating alcohol container warning labels as a tactic to assist consumers in making more informed decisions regarding how much they consume.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data in April 2022 showing that alcohol use causes more than 140,000 deaths annually, or more than 380 deaths every day. Alcohol-related deaths increased by 25% in just the first year of the pandemic, which has been made worse by COVID-19.
Still, a recent national survey showed that almost 70% of American adults do not know that even light or occasional drinking can raise the risk of cancer.
The study’s lead author, Grummon, a Gillings alum who is currently a research scientist in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard University‘s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said, “Many people are unaware of the full range of risks from alcohol consumption.” For instance, it is now widely accepted among scientists that drinking alcohol raises the risk of a number of cancers, including head and neck, breast, and colorectal cancer. However, these risks are unknown to two thirds of Americans.
The mandatory warning labels on alcohol containers could be updated as one method of filling in these knowledge gaps. These alerts are a long-term, low-cost way to improve people’s health and help them make better choices.
For example, in more than 150 countries, warning labels are required on cigarette packages. This has helped to cut the number of people who smoke by a lot over the past few decades.
According to prior research, the most effective warning labels, according to prior research, are those that are prominently displayed on the front of product packaging, include visual elements like photos or illustrations, and come in a variety of rotating designs to prevent them from becoming “stale” to consumers.
The alcohol warning that is currently used in the United States is missing all of these things. It was also written when there was much less evidence that drinking alcohol is bad for you.
According to Hall, the study’s senior author and an assistant professor in the Gillings School’s Department of Health Behavior, “the current U.S. warning label hasn’t been updated in more than 30 years and largely goes unnoticed.” She is a faculty fellow at the Carolina Population Center and a member of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Additionally, the phrase “may cause health problems” in the warning is so ambiguous as to almost be deceptive. The government has a responsibility to inform its citizens about these risks given the growing body of evidence regarding the harms associated with alcohol. ”
The use of warning labels has a long history. For instance, did you know that two thirds of American adults, or the majority of us, were unaware that alcohol is associated with cancer? According to research, two thirds of Americans are in favor of requiring new, more detailed health warning labels on alcohol products.
