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Alcohol increases the risk of breast cancer, but smoking does not affect a woman’s
chances of developing the disease, according to a recent analysis. Researchers used data
from 53 studies of 150,000 women from around the world to reach their conclusions. This
report confirms previous findings that alcohol consumption seems to be a preventable risk
factor for breast cancer. While smoking was not found to increase breast cancer risk,
tobacco has been linked to several other serious diseases, including lung cancer and heart disease.
To conduct their analysis, Valerie Beral of the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford, England
and her colleagues collected and studied 80% of relevant worldwide information on alcohol,
tobacco use, and breast cancer. They determined the average daily alcohol consumption and
smoking habits of the women, taking into account several other characteristics such age,
whether the women had children, age at first childbirth, etc.
The results of the analysis showed that consuming approximately eight grams of alcohol
daily (equivalent to one drink) increases a woman’s overall risk of breast cancer by
6%. The risk further increases when a larger amount of alcohol is consumed. For example,
consuming 10 grams of alcohol per day increases breast cancer risk by 7.1, according to
the researchers. Smoking, on the other hand, was not found to affect the risk of
developing breast cancer in this study. Some previous studies have found a link between
tobacco use and breast cancer risk.
Based on these data, Beral and her colleagues believe that 4% of breast cancer cases in
developing countries are due to alcohol consumption. In developing countries, the
consumption of alcohol is much lower and is not likely to have a significant affect on
breast cancer incidence. Though smoking was not found to increase the risk of breast
cancer, established data have found smoking to be a cause of the development and death
from several other diseases.
This latest study confirms several previously studied reports that daily alcohol
consumption increases breast cancer risk. Other studies include a 1999 article in The
Journal of the American Medical Association, where researchers analyzed data from
322,647 women (including 4,335 women who had breast cancer) in Canada, The Netherlands,
Sweden, and the United States. Women who consumed two to five alcoholic beverages each
day. These women were found to have a 41% increased risk of developing invasive breast
cancer compared to women who did not drink.
In another study published in a May 2001 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer
Institute, researchers also found that moderate alcohol intake increases the risk of
breast cancer. In that study, researchers followed over 50 women for eight-week periods
and found that the women who consumed alcohol during that time had higher levels of
hormones that have been linked to breast cancer.
Nevertheless, alcohol is only one small risk factor for breast cancer. Other risk
factors include:
Approximately 80% of women who develop breast cancer have no known risk factors for the
disease.
Additional Resources and References
- The report, "Alcohol, Tobacco and Breast Cancer - Collaborative Reanalysis of
Individual Data from 53 Epidemiological Studies, including 58,515 Women with Breast Cancer
and 95,067 Women without the Disease," is published in the November 18, 2002 issue of
the British Journal of Cancer, http://www.bjcancer.com/
- To learn more about risk factors for breast cancer, please visit http://www.imaginis.com/breasthealth/bc_risks.asp
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