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Study Confirms: Heavy Drinking Associated with Higher Risk of Breast Cancer SAN FRANCISCO, April 18 , 1997 -- A newly released study by Dr. Christine A. Swanson from the National Cancer Institute and colleagues state in the upcoming May issue of Epidemiology (Vol 8, pp231-237) that 14 drinks or more of beer, spirits or wine per week may be associated with a significant increase in breast cancer risk. -- However, the evaluation of the data demonstrates a slight J-shaped curve with an estimated relative risk similar for those who don't consume alcohol and those who consume 14 drinks per week as well as a slight decreased risk for women who consume less than 14 drinks per week. -- This data indicates a modest increase in breast cancer at higher levels of drinking defined as 14 drinks per week. Close data analysis, however, reveals that women in the highest drinking category of 14 or more drinks per week were actually consuming considerably more than an average of two drinks per day. -- It is difficult to obtain specific guidelines for wine consumption with respect to breast cancer from this study, especially since in the highest drinking/problem category less than 25% of the alcohol was consumed in the form of wine. -- Most importantly, the study confirms that 1 to 1-1/2 drinks consumed per day was not associated with an increased risk in breast cancer. Therefore, this study confirms previous findings demonstrating an increased risk of breast cancer only in heavy alcohol consumers. Scientific Studies Have Consistently Shown That Moderate Wine Consumption Does Not Increase The Risk Of Breast Cancer Dozens of studies have looked at the effect of alcohol consumption on breast cancer risk and researchers have stressed that results are inconclusive. In fact, researchers report that: a) many studies show an association only for heavy drinking and no association for moderate drinking; b) some show different effects for different beverages, particularly pointing to the potential cancer preventive properties of wine phenolics. The latest edition of the federal government's US Dietary Guidelines, which represents hundreds of scientific studies, reflects this view and associates increased cancer risk only with higher levels of alcohol consumption, defining moderation as one drink a day for a women. This most recent study clearly confirms that this is an appropriate guideline. While this most recent study is important it needs to be viewed as one facet of research on this topic and interpreted in the context of many other scientific reports with divergent conclusions. Some Studies Have Shown a Reduced Risk for Moderate Drinkers, Particularly Wine Drinkers. -- Twelve years worth of follow-up data on 13,000 men and women participating in the Copenhagen Heart Study found that daily wine drinkers had half the risk of dying from all causes, including all types of cancer, than those who never drank wine. -- The Harvard Nurses Health Study, an ongoing health survey of 85,000 American women, suggests that women who consumed alcohol in moderation were at a reduced risk for overall mortality relating to cardiovascular and non cardiovascular death, coronary heart disease, cancer and breast cancer. -- A study by Dr. Lynn Rosenberg, from the Boston University School of Medicine published in 1990 showed a reduced relative risk of breast cancer associated with moderate wine consumption. Another earlier study published by the National Institutes of Health found a 22% reduction in breast cancer risk among women who drank one glass of wine per day. -- A 1995 comprehensive report on alcohol and breast cancer, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, by a researcher from the University of California, Los Angeles found that women who consume wine had a 7% decrease in breast cancer risk. Ongoing Studies Report Potential Cancer Preventive Properties For Wine Phenolics Researchers suggest that the favorable effects reported for wine may be due to the biological activity of the plant compounds present in wine and their potential anticarcinogenic effects. -- Wine compounds such as resveratrol, catechin, epicatechin and quercetin have been found to have antioxidative properties which appear to protect the body against oxygen induced tissue damage which otherwise would lead to increased cancer risk. These important properties of antioxidants in the diet were recently acknowledged in the 1996 Guidelines of Diet, Nutrition and Cancer Prevention published by the American Cancer Society. -- Other recent scientific studies have also revealed that compounds found in wine may be better antioxidants than vitamin C, E and Beta Carotene. This will be confirmed in upcoming smaller in vivo studies published over the months to come. -- Over the last several months studies published by researchers from UC Davis, University of Illinois, University of Toronto as well as the Old Dominion University have associated compounds in wine with potential cancer preventive properties. A study released this month at the American Chemical Society meeting associated trans-resveratrol with antiestrogenic properties which may be related to a reduced risk of breast cancer among wine drinkers seen in other large scale studies. Cancer is a very complex disease that is not yet entirely understood. No one risk factor may be to blame and many factors including diet, genetics and environmental pollutants await further scientific exploration. More research is warranted but as the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has stated in Alcohol Alert, "It is important that the public not be subjected to undue alarm when evidence for an increased risk of cancer due to alcohol use is weak or inconclusive." E-mail this page to a friend or colleague! To print, use this version