Congratulations on 7 years cancer free!  Here’s what we know about alcohol and breast cancer.

1.       Alcohol is a known human carcinogen since 2000; see the DHHS Toxicology report from that year.

2.       A study of 150,000 women worldwide by British researchers concluded that drinking as little as 1 drink a day increases the risk of breast cancer. (Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer. (2002)  British Journal of Cancer: 87, 1234-1245)

3.       Any kind of alcohol consumed changes the levels of female hormones, thus causing more estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer.  (Dorgan, J.F., Baer, D.J. et.al. (2001). Serum Hormones and the alcohol-breast cancer association in post menopausal women.  Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 93, pp 710-715.)

4.       Alcohol interferes with a large quantity of both over-the-counter and prescription medications.

5.       Alcohol has no nutritional value.  Controversy exists related to the  health benefits (cardiovascular) of wine; however, after having breast cancer once, you are in a higher risk category for recurrence anyway.  Adding a known carcinogen may increase the risk even more.

In my humble opinion, a healthy post-cancer lifestyle would NOT include alcohol for these reasons.

Best to you,

Kathie Rickman, DrPH, RN, CNS