By Danielle 
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has pulled back a government report warning of links between cancer and even low levels of alcohol consumption, according to a report in The New York Times.
The sidelined report, titled the Alcohol Intake and Health Study, warned that even one drink a day increases the risk of liver cirrhosis, oral and esophageal cancer, and injuries. Its authors said they were told the final version would not be submitted to Congress, as had been planned.
“Risks increase starting at one drink per occasion and are particularly pronounced for women consuming more than three drinks and men consuming more than four,” the authors wrote in their January reported.
The study was one of two assessments intended to inform the upcoming 2025–2030 U.S. Dietary Guidelines.
However, a competing review by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine concluded that moderate drinking is healthier than abstaining — a position long favoured by the alcohol industry. Some panelists came under criticism for financial ties to alcohol companies, the Times reported.
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Groups say report is biased
Industry groups argued the withdrawn study was biased. “The Dietary Guidelines should be guided by a preponderance of sound science, not the personal ideologies of a handful of researchers,” said Science Over Bias, an industry-supported advocacy group, in a statement.
Public health groups have criticized the withdrawal. The U.S. Alcohol Policy Alliance said shelving the study helps obscure evidence about alcohol’s harms.
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Alcohol and cancer
The report is part of a growing body of research challenging the long-held belief that moderate alcohol consumption is harmless or even beneficial, particularly for heart health.
In January, then–Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy called for labels on alcoholic beverages warning that drinking increases the risk of at least seven cancers, including breast, colon, liver, esophageal, oral, pharyngeal and laryngeal cancers. She said alcohol directly contributes to about 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 related deaths each year in the United States.
Related: U.S. surgeon general warns of alcohol-cancer link; study finds coffee, tea may lower risks
However, public attitudes are shifting. A Gallup poll in August found U.S. alcohol consumption at an all-time low, with only 54 per cent of adults reporting they drink.
On its website, the World Health Organization notes that the risks from alcohol begin with the first drop. The agency says drinking is linked to at least seven types of cancer, including common ones such as breast and colorectal cancer. WHO explains that ethanol — the chemical name for alcohol — causes cancer through biological mechanisms as it breaks down in the body. As a result, any alcoholic beverage, regardless of price or quality, carries a cancer risk.