Alcohol and mouth, throat, and voice box cancers

Drinking alcohol causes mouth cancer, throat cancer and voice box cancer.¹

Not everyone who drinks alcohol will get cancer, but the risk starts to increase even at low levels of drinking.^2,3 So, the less you drink, the more you reduce your risk.

An unhealthy lifestyle, smoking, and poor diet can also put you at greater risk of these types of cancer.
 

Types of mouth, throat and voice box cancer 

These three types of cancer are:

• Mouth cancer
• Pharyngeal cancer (upper throat)
• Laryngeal cancer (voice box)

Mouth cancer is the most common, but tumours can develop anywhere in the mouth and throat, including tonsils and saliva glands.⁴

Oesophageal cancer (also known as food pipe or gullet cancer) is another one of the seven types of cancer that can be caused by alcohol, but this isn’t normally considered a ‘head or neck’ cancer.⁵

The link between alcohol and mouth, throat, and voice box cancers

If you drink alcohol, your mouth and throat are in close contact with alcohol, which is a risk factor for all of these types of cancer.

Not everyone who drinks alcohol will get cancer but the more you drink – even if you have one drink a day – the more you increase your risk.⁶

Between 22% and 38% of all mouth, throat, and voice box cancers in the UK are caused by drinking alcohol.⁷

Limiting the risk of mouth, throat, and voice box cancers is one reason to drink within the UK Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines of not more than 14 units a week for both men and women.

Find out how much you are drinking with our Drinking Check self-assessment 

Smoking and drinking alcohol

Combining smoking with alcohol significantly increases the risk of getting mouth, throat, and voice box cancers.^8,9 Tobacco is highly carcinogenic (meaning it’s a substance that causes cancer), and alcohol may make the mouth more absorbent, and possibly make the cells more sensitive to tobacco which allows these carcinogens to enter the body.¹⁰

Drinking alcohol increases the risk of mouth, throat, and voice box cancers by itself, and smoking increases this risk too - even if you don’t drink alcohol.¹¹ But the harmful effect of smoking and drinking alcohol together is bigger than the sum of their individual effects.^12,13

How to reduce your drinking

Symptoms of mouth, throat, and voice box cancers

Detecting these types of cancer early is important because delayed diagnosis can lead to a potentially worse outcome.^14,15 The symptoms of the different mouth, throat and voice box cancers are wide ranging and depend on the area where the cancer has developed.

For detailed information on the symptoms associated with head and neck cancers visit the NHS website.

Preventing mouth, throat, and voice box cancers

There are several things you can do to reduce the risk of developing mouth, throat, and voice box cancers:

• Drink within the UK Chief Medical Officers' (CMO) low risk drinking guidelines
• Stop smoking
• Eat a balanced diet
• Take regular exercise
• Look after your teeth and gums - see your dentist regularl
• Practise safe sex to protect yourself from HPV (human papillomavirus)

Download the MyDrinkaware app to track your drinking