Three Drinks a Day?

Filed in archive Breast Cancer on September 28, 2007

Happy Friday. If this week was a stressful one. You may be dreaming of hitting the local bar with friends for happy hour. But, before you reach for your first drink, keep this in mind. Every drink you take after three could increase your risk for breast cancer.

Yes, you read that right. I know this is probably the last thing you want to hear before the weekend. But, it's true. According to findings presented at the European Cancer Conference, three drinks a day can boost a women's chance to get breast cancer by 30%. And, it doesn't matter what kind of alcohol you drink. Everything from beer, spirits, and wine was tested by over 70,000 women.

"This is a hugely underestimated risk factor," said Patrick Maisonneuve, head of epidemiology at the European Institute of Oncology in Italy, who was not connected to the study.

"Women drinking wine because they think it is healthier than beer are wrong," he said. "It's about the amount of alcohol consumed, not the type."

Still, moderate drinkers shouldn't necessarily stop having their daily glass of wine, the study's authors said. The risk of breast cancer is low enough that they will want to take into consideration potential health benefits of drinking small amounts of alcohol.

Women who are heavy drinkers, however, or those who are already at high risk of developing breast cancer because of genetic factors might want to reconsider their drinking habits, said Yan Li, a study co-author.

Doctors said that other factors, such as genetics, obesity and age, were more important in raising the breast cancer risk than was alcohol consumption.

"A woman who drinks one glass of wine every night, whether she should keep doing that should depend on her own health, her family history," Li said.

"If a woman is relatively young and has a strong history of breast cancer or carries the gene for breast cancer, perhaps she should do everything she can in life to avoid factors that increase her risk."