Link between Alcohol and Breast Cancer Recurrence re-examined

SelenaWolf

AHA!  Figured it out!

Anyway... I was skimming through Dr. John Link's book, The Breast Cancer Survival Manual and there was a few paragraphs at the end of the book about alcohol consumption.

[I'm going to try to get this straight.]  Dr. Link stated that the current thinking which "links" moderate alcohol consumption (i.e., 5 oz./day) with increased risk of breast cancer recurrence needs to be qualified.  Apparently, the association was uncovered via retrospective study: a type of study that uses historical data to group subjects into two groups in order to examine risk- or preventative factors with a pre-determined outcome.  And, he said, that this type of study - while it can be valuable - does have weaknesses.  The major one is that it is not always possible to avoid bias.

According to Dr. Link, the "association" found between alcohol and breast cancer recurrence in these studies needs to be qualified: the actual link between moderate alcohol consumption and increased breast cancer risk actually occurred with subjects who were obese (with a Body Mass Index over 25).  For those subjects who were not obese (with a Body Mass Index under 25), there was no association.  So the real culprit, he claims, is obesity not alcohol.

What do you think?