Drinking alcohol leads to Breast Cancer

A research report has revealed that too much consumption of alcohol increases the risk of breast cancer.

According to this report, excess alcohol consumed, irrespective of its form- wine, beer, or spirits is dangerous for the health and it boosts the risk of breast cancer by around 30 percent.

The breast cancer is mainly caused either through genetic inheritance or by the mutations in breast cancer genes, BRCA-1 and BRCA-2. The increase in uptake of alcohol increases the risk of cancer as alcohol is a very potent carcinogen, i.e. responsible for the mutations in these genes.

The research was carried out on 70,000 women whose drinking habits were observed, out of which 2800 women were diagnosed having breast cancer. It was found that more proportion amongst the diagnosed was of those who had more than two drinks or more in a day .

"The risk of breast cancer increased by 30 percent in women who drank three or more drinks per day" compared to light drinkers, Li said. "What we are saying is, whatever your baseline risk is of getting breast cancer, by consuming alcohol you have this increment," she added.

Dr. Yan Li, an oncologist at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif and a leading researcher in this project said, "The majority of previous studies have found an association between alcohol and elevated breast cancer risk." But it was not yet clear how much amount and which type of alcohol is the most dangerous.

"It makes no difference whether women drink wine, beer or liquor in terms of their risk of breast cancer," Li said. "It's the alcohol itself. And it's the quantity consumed that increases breast cancer risk. "If you drink three or more drinks a day, the risk increases from one eighth to one sixth, she said.

Earlier researches had revealed that red wine contains antioxidant flavonoids especially the one called resveratrol, which accounts for its cardiovascular benefit. But this research didn't find any difference in risk between red and white wine in causing cancer.

Coral Lamartiniere, a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, had found that resveratrol also has anti-cancer properties and that it reduced the risk of cancer by 87%. But he gave the explanation to the latest findings by mentioning that "the alcohol is obviously a more potent carcinogen than resveratrol is protective against cancer."

He also said that the amount of resveratrol varies for different types of red wines and it is not sure which type of red wine was used in the latest research.

So, the best advice for women interested in minimizing their breast cancer risk is: "Modest consumption of anything is the way to go," Lamartiniere said.

Li also said that the alcohol consumption is not the only reason of breast cancer and it can be reduced by eating balanced diet, doing exercise regularly and by avoiding excess smoking and drinking. After all, excess of everything is bad.