TUESDAY, Nov. 1 (HealthDay News) — Women who have as few as
three alcoholic drinks a week may have a moderately increased risk of
developing breast cancer, a new study finds.
Researchers analyzed data from nearly 106,000 women taking part in the
U.S. Nurses’ Health Study to examine any links between alcohol consumption
and breast cancer. The women were followed from 1980 through 2008 and
asked about their alcohol consumption about every four years.
“We did see a modest risk [of breast cancer] associated with lower
levels of alcohol consumption,” said lead study author Dr. Wendy Chen, an
assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and
Harvard Medical School in Boston.
But Chen stressed that women who occasionally over-imbibe on vacation
or at a holiday party shouldn’t be alarmed; the research measured
cumulative alcohol consumption over many years.
During the study period, about 7,700 women were diagnosed with breast
cancer. Women who reported drinking 5 to 9.9 grams of alcohol daily (less
than half an ounce a day or the equivalent of three to six glasses of
wine weekly) were 15 percent more likely to develop breast cancer than
women who never or rarely drank alcohol.
Women who drank more —
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