The Committee on Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COC), is a UK committee of independent experts which advises the Department of Health, the Food Standards Agency and other government departments and agencies on the likelihood of cancer of chemicals found in food, consumer products and the environment. The COC has previously looked at whether drinking alcohol in alcoholic beverages causes cancer, and in 2013 it decided to look at the new evidence.

Drinking alcohol has been shown to increase the risk (or chance) of getting some types of cancer. This does not mean that everyone who drinks alcohol will get cancer, but studies have shown that some cancers are more common in people who drink more alcohol.

The World Health Organisation’s ‘International Agency for Research on Cancer’ (IARC) considers that drinking alcohol increases the risk of getting cancers of the mouth (oral cavity) and throat (pharynx), voice box (larynx), gullet (oesophagus), large bowel (colorectum) and liver, of breast cancer in women, and probably also of cancer of the pancreas. IARC made its most recent conclusions about alcohol and cancer after reviewing information that was available up to 2009.

We have reviewed new information on alcohol and cancer that has become available since the 2009 IARC review. There are some limitations to the conclusions that we were able to make, because of the different ways research studies record data such as whether or not someone has a particular cancer and how much alcohol a person drinks. Overall, our findings support the view that drinking alcohol increases the risk of getting cancers of the mouth and throat, voice box, gullet, large bowel, liver, of breast cancer in women, and probably also of cancer of the pancreas.