MPR News with Angela Davis

The link between alcohol consumption and cancer risk

bottles moving on a conveyor belt
Beer bottles move on a production line at the Anheuser-Busch InBev brewery in Leuven, Belgium on April 23, 2024.
Kenzo Tribouillard

Alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the U.S., after tobacco use and obesity.

Yet less than half of Americans are aware that drinking alcohol increases cancer risk, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research. 

The outgoing U.S. Surgeon General recently asked Congress to expand warning labels on alcohol to link consumption with increased risks for some types of cancer, including mouth, liver, colon and breast cancer. 

MPR News guest host Catharine Richert talks with a researcher about how alcohol can increase our risk for cancer and how we can use that information to make the best decisions for our health.

Two women smiling in a broadcast studio
MPR News guest host Catharine Richert (right) talks with Silvia Balbo (left), a professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences and co-leader of the Masonic Cancer Center’s Carcinogenesis & Chemoprevention Program at the University of Minnesota, in an MPR News studio on Wednesday.
Nikhil Kumaran | MPR News

Guest:

  • Silvia Balbo is a professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences and co-leader of the Masonic Cancer Center’s Carcinogenesis & Chemoprevention Program at the University of Minnesota.

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