Lighter drinkers who consumed about a drink or two a day (7 to 13.9 drinks per week) were 11 percent more likely to develop breast cancer than women who didn’t drink at all, but there was no greater breast cancer risk when alcohol intake was less than four drinks per week. And neither white wine nor red wine drinkers had a lower risk of breast cancer than nondrinkers, Newcomb and her colleagues found.
“It really looks as if the pattern is far more important than the beverage,” said Arthur Klatsky, MD, an adjunct investigator with Kaiser Permanente Northern California’s research division who has long studied the relationship between alcohol and health. In a large study released in December, Dr. Klatsky and his colleagues also found a steady rise in breast cancer risk with alcohol consumption, with no difference in risk between wine, beer, or liquor.
While Dr. Klatsky said he thinks having three or four drinks a week seems unlikely to increase breast cancer risk, he added that there also doesn’t appear to be any “threshold effect,” meaning a minimum level of consumption that’s entirely safe.
“The findings from this study do show that alcohol itself is important, and there doesn’t seem to be a strong difference between the types of drinks you consume,” said Naomi Allen, D.Phil., a cancer epidemiologist at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Allen and her colleagues are following 1.2 million UK women 50 and older participating in the Million Women Study. This month, they are reporting findings that echo those of Dr. Klatsky and Newcomb and their colleagues: moderate to heavy drinking boosted risk of breast cancer, with the same risks seen for women who drank wine and those who drank other types of alcohol.
“The message is pretty simple,” Allen said. “Moderate drinking increases breast cancer risk, and it seems that the more you drink the higher the risk.”
There are a handful of things women can do to modify breast cancer risk, Newcomb noted, including maintaining a healthy weight and not using hormone replacement therapy. And alcohol consumption looks like another breast cancer risk factor that’s under women’s control, she added.
“We found that recent alcohol consumption was very relevant in terms of determining breast cancer risk, so reducing alcohol consumption or eliminating it probably is going to impact upon a woman’s future risk of the disease,” Newcomb said. “This is something that you can do today to reduce your future risk.”
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Comments (7)
I would be interested in knowing whether the red wine risk factors were different between the group of women who had already been diagnosed with breast cancer vs. those who have never been diagnosed.
What was the age group used for this study? Pre or Post Menopausal?
Hi Pam, I’m an editor at Health.com. The study included both pre- and postmenopausal women. Thank you for your interest in this story! Theresa
Why is it that the things we enjoy are the things that are “bad” for us? I enjoy red wine, in moderation, and I don’t intend to stop drinking it. Life is too short to deny yourself something pleasurable for fear that you may (or may not) incur a certain disease.
Is it true that Honey is such a great healer, is it every type of Honey or a specific type of Honey,
Thanks
I might have missed it, but what was the duration of this focus group (years/months). Also was the group chosen from one specific area/region or selected randomly throughout the US?
Is FOLIC ACID the best for BREAST CANCER PREVENTION?