Should alcohol come with a cancer warning, just like cigarettes? The U.S. surgeon general thinks so. In a new advisory issued Friday, Dr. Vivek Murthy said alcohol contributes to 100,000 cancer cases each year.

Doctors in Connecticut hope the warning is a wake-up call, but said most people don’t have to cut out drinks altogether.

We all know that smoking can lead to cancer, but what about drinking?

“No, I didn’t know,” said Andy Aleksiejczyk, of Wilton. “I think alcohol is medicine.”

Aleksiejczyk is not alone. Fewer than half of Americans are aware of the risk, according to a new advisory from the surgeon general. That’s why Murthy is recommending cigarette-style warning labels on alcohol sales.

“It’s really a 180 [degree pivot] from what we’ve always felt and recommended,” said Dr. Andrew Wong, a physician with Hartford Healthcare in Westport. “There was evidence maybe about 10 years ago that perhaps a moderate amount of drinking could, in fact, reduce risk of heart disease and stroke.”

The surgeon general advisory says that 20% of alcohol-related cancer cases are deadly. It says alcohol raises the risk of seven types of cancer, including in the throat, breast and liver.

“Alcohol breaks down into acetaldehyde, which is a metabolite that binds to our DNA,” Wong said. “And so that will cause damage to our DNA, and making it much more likely that we'll develop cancer.”

But the research on alcohol is mixed. A recent study from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine found that up to two drinks a day may lower the risks of heart disease – but it was also associated with a higher risk of cancer.

Despite the surgeon general's recommendation, the government is unlikely to actually require warning labels on alcohol. Congress would have to approve the change. So would the incoming Trump administration.

Consumers are divided about the idea.

“I don’t think it would make it matter,” Aleksiejczyk said. “I don’t think it would be the same thing, like cigarettes.”

But others think warning labels could make a difference.

“They do on everything else,” said Bill Vasale, of Norwalk. “You can’t drink when you're pregnant; they’ve been saying that for years.”

Wong said you don't have to give up drinking altogether, as long as you eat a healthy diet and don't have other risk factors.

But moderation is key.

“My personal recommendation – a few times a year or, at the most, one or two per week,” he said.