Study: Two Drinks a Day Up Risk of Hormonally Sensitive Breast Cancer

Older women who consume two or more alcooholic drinks a day are significantly more likely than nondrinkers to be diagnosed with hormonally sensitive forms of breast cancer, according to researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

In a study of nearly2,000 western Washington women ages 65 to 79, half with a history of breast cancer, the researchers found that current drinkers who reported consuming at least 30 grams of alcohol a day - roughly the equivalent of two drinks - had an 80 percent higher risk of breast cancer.

"Current consumers of two or more drinks per day had more than three times the risk of lobular cancer (a 330 percent increased risk)," said Dr. Christopher I. Li.

While lobular breast cancer, which involves the chambers in the breast that contain milk-producing glands, accounts for only 10 to 15 percent of breast-cancer cases, its incidence is on the rise -- a trend some link to combined estrogen and progestin hormone-replacement therapy,

Li said women who currently have two or more drinks a day also have a "50 percent increased risk of ductal cancer" -- which involves the ducts that carry milk from the lobules to the nipple. This type accounts for about 80 percent of cases of breast cancer.which involves the ducts that carry milk from the lobules to the nipple, accounts for about 80 percent of cases.

The researchers found no link between alcohol consumption and hormonally insensitive cancers (estrogen-receptor negative and progesterone-receptor negative tumors). Since these types of tumors can grow independent of estrogen and progesterone, they are more difficult to treat.

Other Sources: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center