Health and Fitness : Alcohol and Breast Cancer

Research shows a strong link betweenalcohol use and breast cancer. Even a fewdrinks a week is linked with an increasedrisk of breast cancer in women. Alcoholcan raise estrogen levels in the body, which mayexplain some of the increased risk. Cutting back onalcohol may be an important way for many women tolower their risk of breast cancer. As part of its guidelines on nutrition and physicalactivity for cancer prevention, the American CancerSociety recommends that people who drink alcohollimit their intake to no more than 2 drinks per day formen and 1 drink a day for women. The recommended limit is lower for women because oftheir smaller body size and because their bodies tendto break down alcohol more slowly. These daily limitsdo not mean it's safe to drink larger amounts on fewerdays of the week, which can still lead to health, social, and other problems. Alcohol use has been linked to several types of cancerand other health risks, but this is complicated by thefact that low-to-moderate alcohol intake has beenlinked with a lower risk of heart disease. Still, loweringthe risk of heart disease is not a compelling reasonfor adults who don't drink alcohol to start. For moreinformation click here.