A study from Havard Medical School in Boston found that moderate alcohol consumption, just one drink per day, can increase a woman's risk for breast cancer. And the effect is dose dependent; the more alcohol a woman consumes the more her risk increases.
The authors reviewed data from nearly 40,000 women enrolled in the Women's Health Study. During the 10 year follow up nearly 1500 cases of breast cancer were diagnosed, with more than 80% of cancers being invasive breast cancer which has a lower survival rate.
The studies findings, published in the March issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, supported previous research that found a positive coorelation between alcohol consumption and breast cancer risk.
Interestingly in this study , only beer, liquor, and white wine showed a positive relationship with breast cancer risk. Red wine was not associated with increased risk, possibly due to its high content of polyphenols, potent antioxidants.
In the study women who had one alcoholic beverage per day had a 9 percent increase risk of invasive breast cancer. Women who had 2 or more had a 43 percent increase for invasive breast cancer compared to women who did not have alcohol every day.
The researchers also investigated the effect alcohol consumption has on the different variants of breast cancer. Cancers that were both estrogen and progesterone receptor positive had the most substantial risk increases.
Women who regularly drank alcohol and were taking hormone replacement therapy had an enormous increase in breast cancer risk, a 84 percent increase compared to other postmenopausal women who were not taking HRT and who did not drink alcohol.
The study highlighted past evidence that pinpoints a strong relationship between breast cancer risk and alcohol consumption. With the high increases in invasive breast cancer risk women should exercise caution about alcohol consumption, especially if they have other risk factors such as family history, nulliparity, or carry the gene.
Posted by Dr. Christina Gutierrez on March 19, 2007 04:52 PM
