Warning labels on alcohol could reduce cancer rates, says UVic study

Many were rattled in 2023 when the federal government lowered the recommended alcohol intake from two drinks a day to two a week—or ideally, zero.

But the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction’s reasoning was backed by a growing body of evidence that booze is a net negative for our health. Heart disease, stroke, and cancer risks all accompany that after-work martini.

While British Columbians are overall drinking less these days—especially after the government changed its recommendations—many are still consuming more than the recommended weekly number.

New research from UVic’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR), published this week in The Lancet, says adding warning labels to drinks could prevent a cancer diagnosis for hundreds of Canadians every year.

The researchers examined how different alcohol policies could reduce drinking and its related health risks.

“These are evidence-based policies that jurisdictions are considering—there’s a cancer-warning bill in the Canadian Senate right now,” says Adam Sherk, the study’s lead author. Bill S-202, which would amend the Food and Drugs Act to require cancer warnings on alcohol, is headed to its third senate reading.

“We wanted to see just how big of a difference bringing in these policies could make in reducing alcohol-related cancers.”

To understand the most effective approach, Sherk and his team looked at five different scenarios:

1. Setting price minimums per serving in a container, with an additional $1.75 per serving included (ex. a standard bottle of wine has five servings, adding $8.75 to the bottle’s price)
2. Setting the price minimum to $2 per serving in a container
3. Rotating multi-message labels, including drinking guidelines and health risks
4. Adding labels that warn against the cancer risks of alcohol
5. A combination of Nos. 2 and 4

The last of that list was shown to be the most effective model for reducing the number of yearly alcohol-related cancer diagnoses and deaths in Canada. In 2022, alcohol caused an estimated 9498 cases of cancer and 3866 cancer deaths. A combination of cancer-risk labels and cost increases could reduce the number of cases by 674 (7%) and the number of deaths by 216 (5.6%), according to the study.

This modelling doesn't include the other deadly effects of drinking, from car accidents to liver failure—if it did, Sherk says the reduction in deaths would be even larger.

“We believe this is the first study to model the impacts of warning labels on cancer cases and deaths, but cancers are just one of many potential health harms related to drinking,” says Sherk.

The researchers also looked at a real-world model in Yukon and Northwest Territories, where alcohol warning labels have been in place since 2017. Yukon’s warnings led to a 6.6% decline in the consumption of labelled drinks.

Cigarettes are another known carcinogen that were once a part of everyday life for many. Prior to the 1960s, the Canadian government had no recommendations or warnings about tobacco products and nearly half the population was considered smokers.

But once the links to cancer became more clear, public health campaigns—including labels and pictures of the health risks on cigarette packaging—and strong regulations over the decades reduced the number of daily smokers in Canada to just 11% of the country (as of 2022).

Given that one drink is equal to smoking one cigarette—according to the results of another UVic health study—in terms of cancer risk, mimicking the approach to tobacco warnings could be effective in reducing deaths.

The Canadian Cancer Society has also been a proponent of alcohol warning labels. Since 2023, the nonprofit has urged the federal government to implement cancer warnings on booze.

“The Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) believes people in Canada have a right to clear and accessible information about the health and safety of the products they buy,” the society says on its website.

“Warning labels on alcohol products can help inform the public about the risks of alcohol consumption, including cancer risks.”