Drinking Just One Glass Of Wine A Day Linked To Breast Cancer, Study Finds

The days of believing that one glass of wine a day is a health choice may be coming to a close. According to a new study from the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund found that drinking one alcoholic drink a day of any sort — what experts characterize as "moderate drinking" — is linked with an increase of a woman's risk for developing breast cancer.

Dr. Anne McTiernan, a cancer prevention expert at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, led a research team examining lifestyle effects on cancer risk. The team's report, a part of the Continuous Update Project, analyzed 119 studies. The data came from studies on a total of 12 million women and 260,000 breast cancer cases and strongly indicates that moderate drinking is a risk factor for the widespread condition. (For more national stories, subscribe to the Across America Patch and receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Since moderate drinking — and consumption of red wine in particular — has been frequently touted in the press for its health benefits, McTiernan acknowledged that these findings might come as a surprise.

"It can be confusing with single studies when the findings get swept back and forth," she said.

Single studies can be misleading for any number of reasons, which is why it's better to rely on evidence compiled from many different studies. Even then, the scientific method does not guarantee accurate results, and the conclusions may still be overturned, but these types of analyses are our best bet at understanding the origins of disease.

McTiernan notes that her team's conclusions are in line with most common advice about health: "Having a physically active lifestyle, maintaining a healthy weight throughout life and limiting alcohol -- these are all steps women can take to lower their [cancer] risk."

The report found that women who drink one alcoholic drink a day increase their chance of breast cancer before menopause by 5 percent; their chance for developing breast cancer after menopause goes up 9 percent. While these numbers may seem relatively low, they indicate a large effect in aggregate.

The National Cancer Institute notes that "a woman born today has about a 1 in 8 chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer at some time during her life." Even a small change in an individual's likelihood for developing cancer can have a massive effect on a national scale.

As it happens, the evidence for the benefits of moderate drinking have often been exaggerated, and public health experts have long been skeptical. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for instance, holds that there is no reason for anyone who doesn't drink to start.

As Patch recently reported, the quality of the evidence supporting the benefits of moderate drinking is relatively weak. A report published this month in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs led Tim Stockwell, lead author of the study and director of the Centre for Addictions Research at the University of Victoria in Canada, to conclude: "The notion that one or two drinks a day is doing us good may just be wishful thinking."

"There are no guarantees when it comes to cancer, but it's empowering to know you can do something to lower your risk," said Alice Binder, head of nutrition at the American Institute for Cancer Research.

She continues: "Wherever you are with physical activity, try to nudge it up a bit, either a little longer or a little harder. Make simple food shifts to boost protection — substitute veggies like carrots, bell peppers or green salad for chips and crackers; and if you drink alcohol, stick to a single drink or less."

Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images