Are alcoholic drinks the new cigarettes — and will we give them up in face of health warnings?

Could increased awareness about the health consequences of drinking lead to a generational shift away from alcohol?

That will likely depend on policymakers, experts say.

On Tuesday, Canada's Guidance on Alcohol and Health was released by a team of researchers. It showed that no amount of alcohol is good for you, and that even three to six drinks a week can lead to a risk of several types of cancer, including breast and colon cancer.

The report, by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, says warning labels on booze containers could inform consumers about health risks, the number of standard drinks in a container and the benefits of limiting consumption to two drinks a week.

The guidance in the report was based on the findings of a panel of 23 experts who reviewed nearly 6,000 peer-reviewed studies as part of a two-year process, which also considered feedback from 4,845 people during an online public consultation process in spring 2021.

The most recent available data shows that alcohol causes nearly 7,000 cancer deaths each year in Canada, with most cases being breast or colon cancer, followed by cancers of the rectum, mouth and throat, liver, esophagus and larynx. Liver disease and most types of cardiovascular diseases are also linked to alcohol use.

The country's alcohol industry has pushed back against the idea of mandatory warning labels.

But Tim Stockwell, a scientist at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research and one of the experts involved with the report, said he thinks there already is a generational shift away from alcohol, particularly in young adults.

He said he sees evidence for this in, among other things, such campaigns as Dry July or Sober October.

There's evidence there's more young adults abstaining than there used to be, or at least drinking a lot less," Stockwell said.

Stockwell said some of the researchers compared the risks of drinking and smoking.

The conclusion: one standard drink, such as a can of beer, a generous glass of wine or a shot, has the equivalent mortality risk to one cigarette.

Stockwell said this analysis has been confirmed by a group of researchers in the United Kingdom, who found the overall absolute increase in cancer risk for one bottle of wine per week equals that of five cigarettes per week (for men) or 10 per week (for women)."

Bryce Barker with Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse and Addiction said a shift away from drinking won't happen by accident and we'd need to see policy changes.

I think if we, as a society, want to see a shift away from alcohol use, then we'll need to see governments working in close collaboration with employers, health-care providers and community stakeholders," Barker said.

To help people make informed decisions about drinking and support those who want to drink less, Barker said, policies will need to be implemented, such as placing warning labels on alcohol containers, limiting or restricting advertising, and setting limits on hours or locations where alcohol is available.

Alcohol is very embedded and normalized in our society," Barker added.

A shift away from alcohol use will need to be a concerted effort that's shared among different levels of government and different groups. Those will help people to consider drinking less and will help people who want to drink less alcohol to do so."

Barker added it's important to remember people use alcohol in different ways and have different abilities to change their behaviour.

Alcohol use is very prevalent in Canada. It has been very prevalent for years and years. An immediate shift away is probably unlikely, but things like Canada's Guidance on Alcohol and Heath and evidence-based policies help people to make more informed decisions."

CJ Helie, president of Beer Canada, meanwhile, said the industry is already voluntarily informing people to drink responsibly, so there's no need for any labels.

A number of Canadian brewers, including a number of our members, have voluntary health warning labels or pictographs on packaging dealing with warnings against drinking while pregnant and driving while intoxicated," Helie said.

Rob Taylor, spokesperson for Wine Growers Canada, said the group launched an online initiative called The Right Amount" in November to educate consumers about responsible drinking and how to calculate the number of standard drinks in a glass or bottle of alcohol, depending on the volume and percentage of alcohol.

We're encouraging people to track the number of standard drinks that they're consuming and to make informed decisions about alcohol and their health," he said.

In Canada, a standard drink is 17.05 ml of pure alcohol, which is the equivalent of a 341-ml bottle of beer or cider containing five per cent alcohol; a 142-ml glass of wine, which has 12 per cent alcohol; or a 43-ml shot glass of spirits, which has 40 per cent alcohol.

Wine Growers of Canada is developing a QR code that could voluntarily be placed on alcohol containers to direct consumers to the site, which also warns alcohol use can be associated with increased long-term risk of serious illness and that harmful consumption can harm relationships.

Catherine Paradis, interim co-chair of the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction's guidance, called the QR code a marketing tool and disagreed with its focus on binge drinking rather than the risks of low levels of consumption. Advice should come from health experts, she said.

She said consumers need information at the point of pour."

All psychoactive substances that are legally available in this country are labelled, except for alcohol. Why is that? People have a right to know."

With files from The Canadian Press

Kelly Skjerven is a Toronto-based general assignment reporter for the Star. Reach her via email: kskjerven@thestar.ca