Despite the severe health and pervasive social harms that alcohol causes, many people remain unaware of these negative effects. This lack of awareness is especially high for alcohol’s cancer risk.
The World Health Organization reports that alcohol causes about 7% of premature deaths worldwide. Alcohol is known to cause multiple health harms including but not limited to cancer, heart diseases, digestive issues, and premature deaths from accidents and injuries.
Earlier this year, a large genetic study with 150,000 Chinese participants found a clear causal relationship between alcohol and cancer.
Meanwhile, the Lancet has reported that 400,000 deaths of the total 3 million deaths caused by alcohol worldwide are due to cancer.
Knowing Why and How: Method to Reduce Alcohol Use
A 2021 study published in the journal Addictive Behaviors found that an effective method to raise awareness about alcohol harm and decrease people’s alcohol use is to combine a “why to reduce” message on alcohol’s cancer risk with the “how to reduce” method of counting alcoholic drinks.
In the study, the participants filled out three surveys. 7,995 participants completed the first survey, 4,588 of those participants completed the second one three weeks later, and 2,687 participants finished the final survey three weeks after that.
The participants were randomly assigned to one of eight test groups and shown alcohol prevention TV advertisements as follows:
- Control group.
- “Why to reduce” TV advertisement on alcohol and cancer.
- “How to reduce” message: Keep count of alcoholic beverages.
- “How to reduce” message: Decide how many alcoholic beverages and stick to it.
- “How to reduce” message: It’s okay to say no.
- “Why to reduce” TV advertisement on alcohol and cancer and the “How to reduce” message: Keep count of alcoholic beverages.
- “Why to reduce” TV advertisement on alcohol and cancer and “How to reduce” message: Decide how many alcoholic beverages and stick to it.
- “Why to reduce” TV advertisement on alcohol and cancer and “How to reduce” message: It’s okay to say no.
Among these groups, the group that showed significant increases in attempts to reduce alcohol consumption were the participants that saw the “Why to reduce” TV advertisement on alcohol and cancer combined with the “How to reduce” message: Keep count of alcoholic beverages. And only this group significantly reduced alcohol use across the six weeks.
Many people don’t know that alcohol is a carcinogen,” said Simone Pettigrew lead author of the study from The George Institute for Global Health, as per Science Alert.
It’s important information that alcohol users should have access to. But telling people alcohol causes cancer is just part of the solution – we also need to give them ways to take action to reduce their risk.”
Simone Pettigrew, The George Institute for Global Health
The study was based on a largely Australian sample, so while results may not be representative of other populations this method of combining a “Why to reduce” TV advertisement on alcohol and cancer combined with a “How to reduce” message to keep count of alcoholic beverages may work to encourage the reduction of alcohol use for other populations as well.
There are limited resources available for alcohol reduction campaigns, so it’s important to find out which messages resonate best to ensure they have the best chance of working,” said Simone Pettigrew, lead author of the study from The George Institute for Global Health, as per Science Alert.
Simone Pettigrew, The George Institute for Global Health
Sources
Science Alert: “There’s One Simple Strategy to Reduce Alcohol Intake, Scientists Say, And It Works“
International Business Times: “Study Finds New Effective Method To Help Reduce Alcohol Consumption“
