No Matter if Wine is Red or White, it Can Increase
Breast Cancer Risk for Women
Large study shows breast cancer risk increase the
same from wine, beer or liquor
March 9, 2009 – Women who drank 14 or more
alcoholic drinks per week increased their chances of getting breast
cancer by 24 percent over non-drinkers in a large study of women up to
age 69. And, it made no difference if the drink was red wine, white
wine, beer or liquor.
The focus of this study was to evaluate the effect
of red versus white wine on breast-cancer risk concludes that both are
equal offenders when it comes to increasing breast-cancer risk.
The results of the largest study ever on this
topic, which was led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research
Center, were published in the March issue of Cancer Epidemiology,
Biomarkers and Prevention.
"We were interested in teasing out red wine's
effects on breast-cancer risk. There is reason to suspect that red wine
might have beneficial effects based on previous studies of heart disease
and prostate cancer," said lead author Polly Newcomb, Ph.D., M.P.H.,
head of the Cancer Prevention Program in the Public Health Sciences
Division at the Hutchinson Center.
"The general evidence is that alcohol consumption
overall increases breast-cancer risk, but the other studies made us
wonder whether red wine might in fact have some positive value."
Instead, Newcomb and colleagues found no compelling
reason to choose Chianti over Chardonnay.
"We found no difference between red or white wine
in relation to breast-cancer risk. Neither appears to have any
benefits," Newcomb said.
"If a woman drinks, she should do so in moderation
– no more than one drink a day. And if a woman chooses red wine, she
should do so because she likes the taste, not because she thinks it may
reduce her risk of breast cancer," she said.
The researchers found that women who consumed 14 or
more drinks per week, regardless of the type (wine, liquor or beer),
faced a 24 percent increase in breast cancer compared with non-drinkers.
For the study, the researchers interviewed 6,327
women with breast cancer and 7,558 age-matched controls about their
frequency of alcohol consumption (red wine, white wine, liquor and beer)
and other breast-cancer risk factors, such as age at first pregnancy,
family history of breast cancer and postmenopausal hormone use.
The study participants, ages 20 to 69, were from
Wisconsin, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The frequency of alcohol
consumption was similar in both groups, and equal proportions of women
in both groups reported consuming red and white wine.
Background information
The
National Cancer Institute, a branch of the National Institutes of
Health, funded this research, which also involved investigators from
Group Health Cooperative, Seattle; the University of Wisconsin; H. Lee
Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute; and Dartmouth Medical
School.
At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, our
interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists and humanitarians
work together to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other
diseases. Our researchers, including three Nobel laureates, bring a
relentless pursuit and passion for health, knowledge and hope to their
work and to the world. For more information, please visit
fhcrc.org.
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March 9, 2009 – Women who drank 14 or more
alcoholic drinks per week increased their chances of getting breast
cancer by 24 percent over non-drinkers in a large study of women up to
age 69. And, it made no difference if the drink was red wine, white
wine, beer or liquor.
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