The very large study reviewed here found that having 1 or 2 small alcoholic drinks per day increased the risk of hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer.
More than 184,000 women participated in the study. Women who drank 1 or 2 small drinks each day were 32% more likely to be diagnosed with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer than women who didn't drink. Women who had 3 or more drinks each day were 50% more likely to be diagnosed with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer than women who didn't drink.
The higher breast cancer risk was seen no matter what kind of alcoholic drink the women had.
Researchers don't completely understand why drinking alcohol seems to increase breast cancer risk. In this study, hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer was the type of disease linked to drinking alcohol. Estrogen can cause hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer to grow. Alcohol can increase the amount of estrogen a woman has in her body. This increase in estrogen may be part of the reason why there is a link between drinking alcohol and breast cancer risk.
The results of this study agree with many other large studies that have linked alcohol to breast cancer risk. If you want to do everything you can to lower your risk of breast cancer (or breast cancer coming back if you've been diagnosed) limiting your drinking makes sense. If you enjoy alcoholic beverages and plan to continue drinking, try to have fewer than 5 alcoholic drinks per week.
Drinking alcohol regularly is a habit that often starts in early adulthood. So you also might want to talk to your daughters, granddaughters, and other young women in your life about the link between alcohol and breast cancer risk.
To learn more about how you can make your risk of breast cancer as low as it can be, visit the breastcancer.org Lower Your Risk section.
SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - A large U.S. study has linked alcohol consumption to an increased risk of the most common type of breast cancer in postmenopausal women.
The analysis of data from more than 184,000 women is the biggest of three major studies to conclude that drinking raises the risk of breast cancer for older women, Jasmine Lew, a researcher at the National Cancer Institute and the study's lead investigator said on Sunday.
The research found that women who had one to two small drinks a day were 32 percent more likely to develop a hormone-sensitive tumor. Three or more drinks a day raised the risk by 51 per cent.
"Regardless of the type of alcohol, the risk was evident," said Lew, presenting the findings here at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.
About 70 percent of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer have tumors that are positive for both the estrogen and progesterone receptors.
Lew said results from the NCI study lend credence to the theory that alcohol's interference with the metabolism of estrogen raises the risk of cancer.
She said it was too early to make public health recommendations but said women should talk with their doctors to assess risk factors and consider lifestyle changes.
Other studies have linked light consumption of alcoholic drinks, especially red wine, to heart protection.
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer killer of women, after lung cancer. It will be diagnosed in 1.2 million people globally this year and will kill 500,000.
Breastcancer.org 7 East Lancaster Avenue, 3rd Floor Ardmore, PA 19003
Learn more about our commitment to your privacy
© 2009 Breastcancer.org - All rights reserved.
Breastcancer.org is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing information and community to those touched by this disease. Learn more about our commitment to providing complete, accurate, and private breast cancer information.
_tcm8-332386.jpg "wellness_dvd_promo")