September 27, 2007. 2:12 p.m.
Researchers Trumpet Alcohol Link to Breast Cancer.
I was driving in my car today when I heard a well known
medical authority on the radio trumpet the fact that
alcohol causes breast cancer.
"even one or two drinks can cause breast cancer, and it doesn't matter
what type of alcohol." This smelled like another example of the
medical media drumming out pseudo news, so I decided to check it out.
I assumed this had to be related to a publication of a major trial in
a major journal, so I looked up this week's New England Journal of Medicine but I couldn't find it. I did some more research on the internet, and
it turns out that it was an announcement by Kaiser Permanente, not even
a published study. The authors reported a 30% increase in risk for women who
drank three or more drinks per day and said it was equal to smoking a pack of
cigarettes a day. However the risk of breast cancer with smoking is not that well established.
also the risk we are talking about is on the order of about 1% for moderate drinking, more that
offset by the beneficial effects on heart disease and other disease.
Overall it seems the findings are overblown and not news
considering the fact that the literature is full of studies including
the Women's Health Initiative showing that there is no risk with moderate consumption
for premenopausal women, the risk is small for postmenopausal women and can be eliminated with adequate
folate intake in the diet.
So before you put down that glass of wine, relax, and have a salad.
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