In spite of many studies boosting the health benefits of red wine, which include lowering risk of heart disease and degenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s, a study from ten European countries involving 348,850 female volunteers between age 35 and 70 year, followed up an average of 11 years linked alcohol consumption and an increased risk of breast cancer.
The investigation was financed by the European Union and was coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, where five Spanish universities participated in this prospective observational study using data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC).
The study documented a positive dose response relation between alcohol and breast cancer. A woman average risk of breast cancer increases by 4% with each additional 10g/day of alcohol. Meaning that if a woman daily intake of alcohol is one glass of wine or beer would correspond to a risk value of 1, by increasing the alcohol intake to two glasses of wine or beer it will increase the risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer by 4%.
Moreover, apparently the number of years of exposure to alcohol intake also influences a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer, especially if starting drinking alcohol prior to first full-term pregnancy. Consequently the longer a woman has been exposed to alcohol consumption, the greater a risk she has to be diagnosed with breast cancer.
For more details of the study please read HERE.