Summary: A new study, which looks at cancer risk factors according to the time period in which a woman drinks, suggests that it's safer to drink following first pregnancies than it is during the period of a woman's first period through her first pregnancy.
By Carolyn Buchanan | Posted: October 8, 2013
The research on breast cancer causes and risks keeps streaming in and keeping up with all the updates remains difficult for the average female. Many studies point to an uptick in risk with alcohol consumption. Now, a new study looks at the risk factors according to the time period in which a woman drinks. It may be that it's safer to drink post first pregnancy than it is during the period of a woman's first period through first pregnancy.
According to new research from the Washington University School of Medicine, if a female averages a drink per day between her first period and her first full-term pregnancy, she increases her risk of breast cancer by 11 percent. Co-authors Graham Colditz, MD, PhD, and Ying Liu, MD, PhD, both of Washington University School of Medicine worked on the study, which was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The findings are based on a review of the health histories of over 91,000 mothers enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study II done over a 20-year period ending in 2009 and that track disease risk in female nurses.
Researchers say females are more vulnerable at this time because breast tissue cells are particularly susceptible to cancer causing substances as they undergo rapid proliferation during adolescence and later.
Adding to the risk is the lengthening time frame between the average age of a girl's first menstrual cycle and the average age of a woman's first full-term pregnancy. Researchers aren't suggesting that women shorten the time interval. They simply seek to explain why young women should drink less, Colditz said — to lower average daily consumption and, therefore, risk.
This isn't to suggest that women who are intent on doing everything in their power to prevent breast cancer must cut out drinking all together. "Reducing drinking to less than one drink per day, especially during this time period, is a key strategy to reducing lifetime risk of breast cancer," he said.
And get this — another study out of the same group reports that girls ages 9 to 15 who regularly ate peanut butter or nuts were 39 percent less likely to develop benign breast disease by age 30. Benign breast disease, although noncancerous, increases risk of breast cancer later in life.
Colditz said the findings call for more research into what young women can do to counteract alcohol's adverse effects if they choose to drink. Past studies that didn't consider alcohol use suggest that eating more fiber and exercising more lowers cancer risk for everyone.
To learn more about breast cancer risk based on age and lifestyle factors, visit www.yourdiseaserisk.wustl.edu.
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