Wed. Aug 28, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine published a study online Aug. 28 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute suggesting that drinking alcohol at school ages increases the risk of developing breast cancer.

The study shows a girl drinking one glass of an alcoholic beverage per day between her first period and her first full-term pregnancy would have her risk for breast cancer increased by 13%, compared with those who did not drink and the more she drank before motherhood, the higher risk of breast cancer she had to face. 

In addition, the researchers found drinking a bottle of beer, glass of wine or shot of liquor per day, a young woman increased her risk of proliferative benign breast disease by 15 percent.  Although such lesions are noncancerous, they can increase the risk of breast cancer by up to 500%.

The study was based on data from 91,005 mothers enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study II from 1989 through 2009. (jimmy downs)