From the LA Times: As few as 6 drinks a week increases the chance of breast cancer, claims a Harvard study:
Light drinking linked to increased breast cancer risk - latimes.com
As in previous studies, the analysis found that women who consumed at least 30 grams of alcohol per day ? about two drinks ? were 51% more likely to develop breast cancer than women who didn't drink at all. But for the first time, researchers were able to see that the risk of breast cancer begins to rise with even modest alcohol intake.
"When you look at this, you see a dose-response effect," said Dr. Wendy Y. Chen, the lead author of the paper and an assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. "That strengthens the fact that what you're finding is real."
Chen and her colleagues also demonstrated that binge drinking, defined as six or more drinks in one sitting, was associated with a 33% increase in cancer risk independent of total alcohol intake over time and that alcohol consumption between the ages of 18 and 40 was linked with higher breast cancer risk later in life no matter what a woman's drinking habits were after age 40.
Light drinking linked to increased breast cancer risk - latimes.com
As in previous studies, the analysis found that women who consumed at least 30 grams of alcohol per day ? about two drinks ? were 51% more likely to develop breast cancer than women who didn't drink at all. But for the first time, researchers were able to see that the risk of breast cancer begins to rise with even modest alcohol intake.
"When you look at this, you see a dose-response effect," said Dr. Wendy Y. Chen, the lead author of the paper and an assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. "That strengthens the fact that what you're finding is real."
Chen and her colleagues also demonstrated that binge drinking, defined as six or more drinks in one sitting, was associated with a 33% increase in cancer risk independent of total alcohol intake over time and that alcohol consumption between the ages of 18 and 40 was linked with higher breast cancer risk later in life no matter what a woman's drinking habits were after age 40.
Gina
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