High alcohol use quadruples breast cancer risk

Women who drink more than a glass of wine or beer a day have long been known to increase their risk of developing breast cancer. But new research suggests the risk is far great than previously believed — quadrupling with each daily glass of alcohol.

The study, led by five Spanish universities who tracked more than 300,000 women from 10 countries, is raising new alarms on the links between alcohol and breast cancer, Science Daily reports. 

Of the women in the study, funded by the European Union and coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, 11,576 were diagnosed with breast cancer over the course of 11 years.

Those who drank more than one alcoholic beverage a day were far more likely to be diagnosed with cancer, the findings showed.

''A woman's average risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer increases by 4 percent with each additional 10 grams [per] day of alcohol,” said María Dolores Chirlaque, one of the Spanish researchers from the University of Murcia. 

''In other words, a daily intake of one glass of wine or beer — or less — would correspond to a risk value of 1 [no risk]. However, if we increase our intake to two daily glasses of wine or beer, our risk would rise by 4 percent [so] an increase of up to 15 grams [per] day is linked to a 5.9 percent greater risk of breast cancer.'' 

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