Mount Sinai South Nassau ‘Truth in Medicine’ Poll: Majority of New Yorkers say they will consider drinking less due to the surgeon general’s warning about link between cancer and alcohol

In recognition of National Alcohol Awareness Month and Screening Day, experts encourage individuals to assess their drinking habits and seek help if needed

A majority of New Yorkers are considering drinking less alcohol or encouraging others to do so as a result of the surgeon general’s new warning about a strong association between drinking alcohol and increased cancer risk, according to the latest Mount Sinai South Nassau “Truth in Medicine” poll.

Among the poll respondents from New York City and Long Island, 57 percent reported having between one and seven drinks per week, while 22 percent said they consumed between 8 and 14 drinks per week. But 51 percent said they would consider drinking less alcohol or encourage others to reduce consumption based on the new advice.

In January, then-Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, MBA, urged that new warning labels be placed on alcohol packaging due to the increased risk of cancer linked to alcohol consumption. It is up to Congress to decide whether to adopt the recommendation.

The poll results indicate public health experts have a challenge ahead to convince patients about the link between alcohol and cancer risk. While 58 percent of respondents did agree that alcohol can lead to overeating and smoking, less than half – 46 percent – of the poll respondents said they believe that alcohol use increases the risks of cancer. Meanwhile 46 percent of poll respondents said they were aware of the new warning from the surgeon general.

The release of the poll results coincides with Alcohol Awareness Month (held annually in April) as well as National Alcohol Screening Day, which is officially tomorrow. This day is designed to provide the public with information about the harmful effects of alcohol and encourages individuals to have an alcohol screening to assess their drinking habits. To get an alcohol screening at a testing center in your area, call the Long Island Council on Alcoholism & Drug Dependence, (516) 747-2606, or visit its website at www.licadd.org.

Sponsored by Four Leaf (formerly Bethpage Federal Credit Union), the Mount Sinai South Nassau “Truth in Medicine” Poll aims to gather data about public attitudes on key public health topics and spur education and discussion. The poll was conducted from Sunday, January 26, through Thursday, January 30, via both landlines and cell phones among 600 Long Island and New York City adults ages 21-65 and above. Poll findings are subject to a sampling error of plus or minus 3.9 percent.

The current health warning label on alcoholic beverages, enacted by Congress in 1988, states: “GOVERNMENT WARNING: (1) According to the Surgeon General, women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects. (2) Consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery and may cause health problems.”

The proposed warning is based on new research linking alcohol consumption with an increased risk for at least seven distinct types of cancer: breast (in women), colorectal, esophageal, voice box, liver, mouth, and throat.

Experts say additional education about the risks of alcohol consumption is key to reducing cancer risks associated with drinking. Some 54 percent of those who were polled said they were either unsure or did not believe alcohol increased the risk of cancer. And 58 percent believe there is a safe level of alcohol that can be consumed without raising one’s risk of cancer.

“Alcohol is a carcinogen, so the more alcohol a person drinks—particularly over time—the greater will be his or her risk of developing an alcohol-associated cancer,” said Adhi Sharma, MD, President of Mount Sinai South Nassau. “It would be prudent to add the cancer risk to the warning label, which could have a dual effect of reducing alcohol-related accidents as well as a range of serious health complications, such as liver and heart disease, stroke, depression, and brain damage.”

Studies show that alcohol may increase cancer risk by disrupting cell cycles, increasing chronic inflammation, damaging your DNA (which controls how a cell grows and does its job, so when DNA is damaged, a cell can grow out of control and become cancerous), and increasing levels of hormones, including estrogen, which plays a role in breast cancer development.

According to the American Association of Cancer Research’s Cancer Progress Report 2024, 40 percent of all cancer cases in the in the United States are associated with modifiable risk factors such as alcohol consumption. The National Institutes of Health reports that approximately 5.5 percent of all new cancer diagnoses and 5.8 percent of all deaths from cancer can be attributed to drinking alcohol. The Surgeon General affirmed in the advisory that, “The largest burden of alcohol-related cancer in the U.S. is for breast cancer in women with an estimated 44,180 cases in 2019, representing 16.4 percent of the approximately 270,000 total breast cancer cases for women.”

If Congress approves adding the warning, its impact could be dramatic, as 54 percent of poll respondents say they generally believe warning labels on food and beverages. Seeing the warning in print could provide the motivation for the 20 percent (of the total number of respondents who said they drink alcoholic beverages) to follow through on their desire to reduce their alcohol consumption and for the 63 percent of respondents who participated in “Dry January” or a similar challenge to continue their efforts to cut back on drinking.

Only 38 percent of poll respondents who made New Year’s resolutions included reducing alcohol as among their goals. The top New Year’s resolutions were making healthy choices (75 percent) and losing weight (72 percent).

“Whether you have or don’t have New Year’s resolutions, I strongly encourage everyone to make it a priority to consider whether they should reduce the amount of alcohol they drink,” said Aaron Glatt, MD, Chief of Infectious Diseases and Chair of the Department of Medicine at Mount Sinai South Nassau. “Additional benefits of drinking less include lowered blood pressure, weight loss, a healthier complexion, sharper mental clarity, balanced mood, reduced anxiety, and better liver function.”

This is the 21st “Truth in Medicine” Poll and first of 2025. The poll is part of Mount Sinai South Nassau’s mission of outreach to improve education around critical public health issues.

The poll was conducted by a nationally recognized independent polling firm, LJR Custom Strategies, with offices in Washington and New Orleans. LJR has conducted more than 2,000 studies for a broad spectrum of health care, business, education, cultural, and political clients in nearly every state in the country and around the world.

“As it is said of cancer, it can also be said for alcohol abuse—we all know someone who has been impacted by a cancer diagnosis or alcohol-related illness or injury,” said Linda Armyn, Chief Executive Officer of Four Leaf. “As a staunch advocate and partner of Mount Sinai South Nassau’s mission to advance the public’s health and wellness, Four Leaf urges residents of Long Island and metro New York to give careful consideration to health information and advice that is solely focused on preventing life-threatening diseases, illnesses, or accidents.”

Mount Sinai South Nassau began conducting the public health poll in January 2017. Previous polls have focused on cellphone use in schools, mental health services, holiday stress, the human papilloma virus vaccine, legalization of recreational marijuana, supplements, antibiotic use and misuse, and screen time, among others. For more information about the polls, visit www.southnassau.org/sn/truth-in-medicine.

About Mount Sinai South Nassau
The Long Island flagship hospital of the Mount Sinai Health System, Mount Sinai South Nassau is designated a Magnet® hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) for outstanding nursing care. Mount Sinai South Nassau is one of the region’s largest hospitals, with 455 beds, more than nine hundred physicians and 3,500 employees. Located in Oceanside, New York, the hospital is an acute-care, not-for-profit teaching hospital that provides state-of-the-art care in cardiac, oncologic, orthopedic, bariatric, pain management, mental health, and emergency services and operates the only Trauma Center on the South Shore of Nassau County, along with Long Island’s only free-standing Emergency Department in Long Beach.

In addition to its extensive outpatient specialty centers, Mount Sinai South Nassau provides emergency and elective angioplasty, and offers Novalis Tx™ and Gamma Knife® radiosurgery technologies. Mount Sinai South Nassau operates the only Trauma Center on the South Shore of Nassau County verified by the American College of Surgeons as well as Long Island’s only free-standing, 9-1-1 receiving Emergency Department in Long Beach. Mount Sinai South Nassau also is a designated Stroke Center by the New York State Department of Health and Comprehensive Community Cancer Center by the American College of Surgeons; is an accredited center of the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Association and Quality Improvement Program; and an Infectious Diseases Society of America Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence. For more information, go to www.mountsinai.org/southnassau.