Drinking alcohol raises breast cancer risk
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Editor's note: Many researchers like to say something like alcohol is linked to cancer, but it reduces risk of heart disease. Please remember that alcohol is not a vitamin that is absolutely needed to protect the heart. Don't get fooled by the rhetoric. We know that the U.S. National Toxicology Program has classified alcoholic beverages as a carcinogen, but has never classified alcohol as a heart-protector. Those who really want to cut heart risk would be better off using a vegetarian diet. 99% of coronary heart disease cases can be improved following a plant-based diet.
By Maria Cendejas
Three alcoholic drinks per week may increase a women’s risk of developing breast cancer, according to a new study in mynewsdaily.
The women in the study who drank up to 6 glasses of wine per week were 15% more likely to develop breast cancer, compared to those who did not drink. The study adds to the growing body of evidence that alcohol consumption is linked to elevated risk of breast cancer.
Drinking moderate to high amounts of alcohol has been linked to breast cancer risk, but the effects of consuming low amounts of alcohol had been uncertain.
Alcohol may boost breast cancer risk by altering levels of the sex hormone estrogen, researchers said.
“While the increased risk found in this study is real, it is still quite small. Women will need to weigh this slight increase in breast cancer risk with the beneficial effects alcohol is known to have on heart heath. Any woman's decision will likely factor in her risk of either disease,” said Dr. Wendy Chen, of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
Chen mentioned that women who took fewer than 3 drinks per week had no increase in breast cancer risk. "I don't think the take home message would be that women can't drink at all," Chen said.
For the study, Chen and colleagues reviewed data on 105,986 women who were followed from 1980-2008 as part of the Nurses Health Study.
Women regularly answered questionnaires about their alcohol consumption and if they had been diagnosed with breast cancer during the follow-up. A total of 7,690 cases of invasive breast cancer were identified during the study period.
The researchers found 333 cases of breast cancer per 100,000 women among those who drank 3-6 glasses of wine per week. This is compared to 281 cases per 100,000 among those who didn’t drank any alcohol.
Women who consumed more than 6 glasses a week were at higher risk and those who consumed at least 2 drinks a day, the rate was 413 cases per 100,000 women - a 51 percent increase in breast cancer risk.
The study was published on November 2nd in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Alcoholic benerages are recognized by the U.S. government as cancer-causing agents. That is, it has been known that drinking alcohol will increase risk of cancer.
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