Did the current Administration really conspire to suppress a report on the close relationship between alcohol and cancer?

This investigative piece from the Vox website claims they did.

RFK Jr. and the White House buried a major study on alcohol and cancer. Here’s what it shows.

It isn’t that the relationship between drinking and cancer risk has been a big secret. I first wrote about it on this site back in 2021.

What would be the motive for the government to suppress this information? According to Vox, it’s this: “Americans today are drinking less. This year, Gallup recorded a historic low in the percentage of US adults who drink: 54 percent, down from 67 percent in 2022.”

I bet the alcoholic beverage industry didn’t like hearing that. But it makes sense: I’ve read that Big Alcohol, like Big Tobacco, has been on the hunt for new revenue-generating opportunities, including some involving cannabis and nicotine, in hopes of replacing the lost income.

The story doesn’t stop there. “Reuters reported in June, citing anonymous sources, that the new dietary guidelines would eliminate any specific recommended limits on alcohol consumption.”

Geez, now it sounds as if we’re actually going backwards.  I thought, based on what I’ve read of the science, that limiting consumption to two drinks daily for men and one for women was actually quite reasonable.

Not drinking at all would technically be the ideal, healthwise. But nobody expects Americans to give up alcohol entirely. If just half of drinkers stayed fairly close to the recommended limits, it would presumably have a significant positive impact on America’s overall health.

Anyway, sounds like it’s back to the drawing board, at least for the present.

By the way, what were the original study’s conclusions, the ones the government didn’t like? As summed up by Vox:

“Alcohol use is associated with increased mortality for seven types of cancer– colorectal, breast cancer in women, liver, oral, pharynx, larynx, and esophagus. Risk for these cancers increases with any alcohol use and continues to grow with higher levels of use… Women experience a higher risk of an alcohol-attributable cancer per drink consumed than men. Men and women who die from an alcohol-attributable cause die 15 years earlier on average.”

Can’t get much clearer than that. And it’s not really controversial, at least among researchers.

Still, I guess I can see why the current Administration doesn’t want to take that on. A big part of their political support will be among folks who routinely drink more than the recommended limits.