In the pink month - or National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it understandably outrages many women that alcohol companies take advantage of the pink ribbon’s status to promote sales of alcoholic beverages, including vodka and liqueurs.  

According to USA Today, Mike's Hard Lemonade, a U.S.-based manufacturer of alcoholic beverages, now adds the breast cancer color to its products by making pink wines sport pink ribbons; Chambord also sells pink Vodka and liqueurs.

Alcoholic beverages are recognized by the U.S. National Toxicology Program as a human carcinogen or cancer causing agent.  The effect of alcohol on a number of cancers, including breast cancer, has been well established. Although not all drinkers will develop breast cancer, alcohol can cause damage, which may be clinically significant or insignificantly.

Below are some recent studies to again remind readers that drinking alcohol raises breast cancer risk. And, hopefully some readers may find them interesting.

Does alcohol consumption increase the risk of breast cancer recurrence and death among women with early stage breast cancer?

A study published in the Aug 30 2010 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology found drinking alcoholic beverages, including wine, beer and liquor, may increase risk of breast cancer recurrence, particularly among postmenopausal and overweight and/or obese women.

Kwan M.L. and colleagues from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City in UT analyzed data collected from 1,897 women two years after diagnosis with early-stage breast cancer between 1997 and 2000.  During a 7.4-year follow-up, 293 breast cancer recurrences and 273 deaths were identified.
 
Fifty-one percent of participants were drinkers who were defined as drinking more than 0.5 gram per day of alcohol from wine, beer and liquor.

Those who drank 6 grams or more per day were 35 percent more likely to have a recurrence and 51 percent more likely to die from breast cancer, compared to those who did not drink.

Compared to nondrinkers, the risk of breast cancer recurrence was 51 percent higher among those drank 6 grams or more per day of alcohol; the risk was 60 percent higher among overweight and obese women who drank 6 grams per day.

Does alcohol consumption affect the risk of all types of breast cancer?

A study published in the Sep 22, 2010 issue of Journal of National Cancer Institute suggests that alcohol use may be more strongly associated with the risk of hormone-sensitive breast cancer than hormone insensitive breast cancer.

In the study, Li C.I. and colleagues from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle Washington assessed the association between alcohol consumption and postmenopausal breast cancer among 87,724 women in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study prospective cohort from 1993 through 1998.

The researchers identified 2,944 cases of invasive breast cancer during a follow-up through Sep 15, 2005.  Alcohol consumption was positively correlated with a higher risk of invasive breast cancer overall, invasive lobular carcinoma and hormone receptor-positive tumors.

The association was more strongly associated among certain types of invasive breast cancer than other types.  Compared to nondrinkers, those who used seven or more alcoholic beverages per week were 82 percent more likely to develop hormone receptor-positive invasive lobular carcinoma, but only 14 percent more likely to suffer hormone receptor-positive invasive ductal carcinoma.

Alcohol promotes mammary tumor growth

Hong J. and colleagues from the University of Texas at Austin TX published a report in Aug 28, 2010 issue of Cancer Letter saying that mice consuming alcohol developed larger mammary tumors and developed them earlier, compared to water--drinking mice.

The researchers also found that alcohol exposure boosted the invasiveness of breast cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner.

Alcohol linked to high risk of breast cancer in Romania

A case-control study led by Nasui B. and colleagues from Faculty of Medicine, Department of Environmental Health, University of Medicine and Pharmacy found that drinking alcohol was associated with increased incidence of breast cancer in Romanian women.

The study, published in the Jul-Sep 2009 issue of Rev Med Chir Soc Med Nat Iasi., included 223 patients with breast cancer and 211 non-cancer controls.

The researchers found the group of women with breast cancer drank 5.87 gram per day of alcohol compared to 4.79 grams per day for the controls. Those who consumed more than 6.03 grams per day of alcohol were 74 percent more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer.

They concluded "reducing alcohol consumption is a potential way to reduce breast cancer risk."

Excessive intake of alcohol boosts risk of breast cancer

Suzuki R. and colleagues from the National Cancer Institute in Tokyo analysed data on alcohol consumption and breast cancer status from 50,757 premenopausal and postmenopausal women aged 40 to 69 and found compared to non-drinkers, those who drank more than 150 grams per week of alcohol were 75 percent more likely to develop breast cancer.

For premenopausal women, the increase was 78 percent, while for postmenopausal women, the increase was 21 percent, which may suggest that younger women may be more sensitive to the cancer promoting effect of alcohol.

The study was published on Aug 1, 2010 in International Journal of Cancer.