Study Links Drinking, Breast Cancer

Women who drank two to five alcoholic drinks daily had a 41 percent greater risk of developing breast cancer than women who did not drink, a new analysis that combined several studies has found.

The study, which confirmed earlier findings, found that breast-cancer risk increased proportionately with increases in alcohol intake. Each daily drink was associated with about a 9 percent increase in risk of breast cancer, the researchers reported in today’s issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

The link existed whether the drink was beer, wine or hard liquor, said the researchers, led by Stephanie Smith-Warner, a research fellow in nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health.