Breast Cancer Risk May Be Higher With Just One Drink a Day

Susie,



A risk factor is not the same as a cause:



My understanding is that the number 1 risk factor for BC is being a woman. However, 7 out of 8 women will NOT get BC in their lifetime. Meanwhile, more than 300 men are diagnosed just in the UK (where I am), each year and they clearly do not have the number 1 risk factor.



So, the presence of a risk factor does not mean you will get BC any more than the absence of a risk factor means that you are safe from it.



At this time, none of us, or our medical teams, know why we, as individuals, have developed BC, so we cannot be responsible. We have enough to deal with just getting through diagnosis and treatment, without having a guilt trip about what we may or may not have done to cause our BC. So I'm off for a glass of wine... Or I would be if chemo hadn't put me right off it!!!



Angelfalls

Happy to help! ;o) I personally think that moderation is the key with all of these risk factors, but a little bit of what you fancy is good for the soul!!! There are Quality of Life issues here, too! Enjoy the weekend xx

I am now post menopausal and on Aromasin so how does a glass or two of wine affect my risk.? Aromasin is used to inhibit my testosterone from converting to estrogen so will it also block any alcohol related estrogen effects? I have wondered about this and also wondered if It is safe for me to have soy now?

I so agree and say it myself often - can't live in a bubble.  So I do make efforts to avoid certain foods, beverages, etc.  I will have a drink once in a great while.  Heck, even when I do have one I split the shot up in halves so it slows the rate of putting the alcohol in my system.  Did that even before BC.  I just can't stand losing control and getting drunk.

Alcohol is graded by the World Health Organisation and the International Agency of Research on Cancer as a Group 1 Carcinogen. Other Group 1s include asbestos and mustard gas.

 Cheers.

Also salted fish. Weird. 

This report simply provides a review of the data from all the previous studies.  So there is nothing new here.  Or as wallycat said, "OY!  Here we go again."

So let's see.... the study says that one drink a day increases risk by 4%.  WOW!  A whole 4%??? This means that my estimated 20% risk is actually 20.8%, because I do consume one drink a day. Now that's a compelling reason to stop doing something that I enjoy! 

But wait, what about this study says that moderate alcohol consumption reduces my risk of dying of heart disease by 21.8%.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19597054

And then there is this study that suggests an even better result: "among women 50 or older, light-to-moderate drinkers (1.5 to 29.9 g per day) had a significant reduction in mortality from all causes, which appeared to be the result of a substantially lower risk of fatal cardiovascular disease. Among light-to-moderate drinkers, the relative risk of death from a cardiovascular cause was 0.59 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.47 to 0.73) for women 50 years of age or older. "  A 41% reduction in mortality from heart disease?? And according to the table in the article, an overall reduction in mortality (from all causes) of 12%?  WOOHOO!  Hand me the glass!  http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199505113321901#t=articleResults

So let me quote wallycat again, since I could have written the exact same thing: 

If I did not enjoy wine, I would just stop. To me, it is something I enjoy with dinner. If this is what kills me, so be it. Cancer has taken enough from me. 

"Statistics, damn statistics and lies..." or something like that! ;o)

I had to smile at Wallycat's post.  Especially as a recovering alcoholic.  Isn't the risk for developing breast cancer, because we have breasts? 

Susie,

A cause will make it happen; a risk factor increases the risk that it may happen, which is why the reports state that A may increase your risk of B, not A will cause B. So having breasts doesn't cause you to have BC, or all women and men would have it. But it does increase your risk.

In fact, as I said before, the number 1 risk factor is not having breast tissue, it's being a woman. That's why relatively few men get BC. After that come other risk factors such as age, how old you were when you first got your period, whether you've taken additional oestrogen,... All these are significant risk factors, before you get to the relatively lower risk lifestyle factors.

Crap shoot - my point exactly!

Angelfalls xx