Health
Even One Glass of Wine a Day Increases Risk of Breast Cancer
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As innocuous, pleasant, and even healthful as that glass of Cabernet may seem, it raises the risk of breast cancer. And most people have no idea.
A recent survey funded by the National Institutes of Health found that more than 50 percent of adults in the United States are unaware that consuming alcohol increases the risk of cancer, including breast cancer.
And among those who do know about the alcohol-cancer connection, there’s a belief or perception that risk varies according to the type of alcohol consumed, which is simply not true.
“All types of alcoholic beverages, including wine, increase cancer risk,” says Andrew Seidenberg, PhD, who led the study, published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention, when he was a Cancer Prevention Fellow at the National Cancer Institute. “And drinking alcohol increases the risk of many types of cancer, including breast cancer,” he adds. Dr. Seidenberg is now a research director at Truth Initiative, a nonprofit public health organization.
Indeed, a widely quoted meta-analysis of 119 studies by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) and the World Cancer Research Fund published a few years ago determined that consuming just one alcoholic drink a day — the amount in a standard 5-ounce glass of wine — raises the risk of breast cancer by 5 percent in premenopausal women and by 9 percent in postmenopausal women.
“A 5 percent increased risk could translate into negligible change over one year for a woman in her early thirties but higher when she’s in her forties,” explains Anne McTiernan, MD, PhD, lead author of the report and cancer prevention expert at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle. “Overall, a 9 percent increase would mean that if a woman starts out with the usual 1 in 8 chance of developing breast cancer during her lifetime, drinking one drink a day long-term could increase that risk to almost 1 in 7, and that’s a significant increase.”
According to the American Cancer Society, women who consume one alcoholic drink a day have a 7 to 10 percent increased risk of developing breast cancer. At two to three drinks a day, women are facing an increased breast cancer risk of about 20 percent.
There Is No Safe Level of Alcohol Consumption
According to a 2023 report by the World Health Organization (WHO) published in The Lancet Public Health, there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.
To identify a “safe” level, there would need to be evidence demonstrating that there is no risk of illness at or below a certain level—and there is no such evidence.
“We cannot talk about a so-called safe level of alcohol use — the risk to the drinker’s health starts from the first drop of any alcoholic beverage,” said Carina Ferreira-Borges, PhD, MPH, of the WHO’s Regional Office for Europe, in a 2023 news release.
“The only thing that we can say for sure is that the more you drink, the more harmful it is — or, in other words, the less you drink, the safer it is.”
Alcohol has been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a group 1 carcinogen that is linked to seven types of cancer. In addition to female breast cancer, alcohol increases the risk of oral cavity (mouth), pharynx (throat), esophagus, liver, larynx (voice box), and colorectal cancers.
Alcohol contains ethanol, a known carcinogen, and it can promote cancer in several ways.
Ethanol can raise levels of estrogen, which in turn increases breast cancer risk. The breakdown of ethanol in the body can also create high levels of acetaldehyde, which can damage DNA.
Because all types of alcoholic beverages contain ethanol, all pose a risk.
Even though some research has shown an association between light and moderate drinking and heart health, experts say it can’t be determined whether any possible benefit is due to the alcohol itself or to heart-healthy lifestyle choices like healthful diet and exercise. What’s more, other research has found a link between alcohol consumption and heart disease.
For these reasons, and because of the established cancer risks, the recommendation is to not drink at all.
Meanwhile, women in the United States are drinking more than ever. According to a 2020 report by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the prevalence of alcohol use, binge drinking, and the “number of drinking days in the past month” has increased among females aged 12 and older.
Excessive drinking is rising among women in their late twenties and thirties, and the prevalence of binge drinking has nearly doubled among women in their thirties and forties.
There’s also an emerging trend of “high-intensity drinking,” defined as drinking two or three times the level of binge-drinking (four drinks for women and five for men over a few hours).
Drinking Less Lowers Breast Cancer Risk, Exercise and Diet Help
While the risk of breast cancer increases with each unit of alcohol consumed, staying away from alcohol keeps the risk lower. In fact, alcohol is one of the leading modifiable risk factors for breast cancer. “Many people, including women, are not aware that breast cancer is the most common cancer caused by alcohol among women globally. People need to know that by reducing alcohol consumption they can reduce their risk of getting cancer,” said Marilys Corbex, PhD, senior technical officer for noncommunicable diseases at WHO-Europe, in a WHO media release.
Exercise and a healthful diet can also help. A 2017 AICR report revealed for the first time, according to Dr. McTiernan, that vigorous exercise such as running or fast bicycling decreases the risk of both pre- and post-menopausal breast cancers.
“The evidence is clear: Having a physically active lifestyle, maintaining a healthy weight throughout life and limiting alcohol — these are all steps women can take to lower their breast cancer risk,” McTiernan says.
A umbrella review of meta-analyses published in 2023 in the journal Clinical Nutrition suggests that following a Mediterranean Diet may reduce breast cancer risk, especially among post-menopausal women.
A Mediterranean diet emphasizes plant foods such and vegetables and fruit, whole grains, legumes and nuts, healthy fats such as extra-virgin olive oil, and choosing fish over red meat. Opting for poultry instead of red or processed meats has also been associated with reduced breast cancer risk.
According to the American Cancer Society, it is best not to drink alcohol at all. People who choose to drink should limit their intake to no more than two drinks per day for men and one drink a day for women.
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