Binge Drinking and Breast Cancer

There’s a new study that should be of interest to young women who drink alcohol, especially those who engage in binge drinking.  Are you listening, college kids?

According to the study, which was published in the May, 2010 issue of “Pediatrics,” drinking alcohol increases the risk of getting benign breast cancer. About 80 per cent of breast lumps are benign, but what many people don’t realize is that these benign breast lesions can lead to invasive breast cancer, so the condition is an important marker of one’s risk of getting breast cancer. Researchers believe the connection between alcohol and breast cancer is found in the hormone estrogen because drinking increases estrogen levels.

The study, which was performed by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Harvard, found that girls and young women who drank alcohol were at higher risk of getting benign breast disease. The study followed almost 7,000 girls between 9-15 years old from 1996 to 2007. It found that a “high consumption” of alcohol was associated with a high risk of benign breast disease. Specifically, girls and young women who drank six or seven days a week were 5.5 times more likely to develop benign breast disease than those who didn’t drink or who had less than one drink per week. Those who reported drinking three to five days per week had three times the risk.

There have been other studies which found that adult women who intact alcohol later in life have a higher risk of getting breast cancer. This study confirms the affect of drinking at an earlier age.

Think about this, girls, before you go to the next frat party.