The association between total alcohol intake and risk of breast cancer appears to be mainly limited to oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer, especially in post-menopausal women, whilst an analysis of different types of alcohol showed that only wine revealed similar results

In February 2020 researchers from China published their review of the medical scientific literature to to assess the association between different alcoholic beverages (spirits, wine and beer) and risk of breast cancer. A total of 22 studies, involving 45,350 breast cancer cases, met the search criteria and were included in the review. Results showed that the association between alcohol intake and risk of breast cancer was mainly limited to oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer (ie cancer cells grow in response to the hormone oestrogen). In particular there was a dose dependent response for both total alcohol and wine intake, ie an additional 10 g/dl per day increased the breast cancer risk by 10.5% for total alcohol drinking and 9% for wine. For postmenopausal women, the risk increased by 11% with every 10 g/dl increase of total alcohol intake. Furthermore, the breast cancer alcohol-attributed percentage was seen to be higher in Europe than in North America and Asia.

Sun Q et a. Alcohol Consumption by Beverage Type and Risk of Breast Cancer: A Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies. Alcohol Alcohol. 2020 Feb 22. pii: agaa012

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