By Pam Stephan, About.com
Next time you want to "drink pink" just order grapefruit, papaya, or pomegranate juice - without alcohol. Australian researchers recently crunched the data on alcohol and cancer, finding that 20 percent of breast cancer cases were linked to alcohol use. That means that for every 5 people diagnosed with breast cancer, one of them will have overused alcohol.
Professor Ian Olver of the Australian Cancer Council calls alcohol a Class 1 carcinogen, comparing its negative health effects to tobacco or asbestos. Olver said, "We know alcohol does interfere with the balance of female hormones, so there is a very strong link with how it could cause something like breast cancer, but we didn't expect it to be quite that high." The majority of breast tumors are fueled by estrogen and progesterone. Drinking any amount of alcohol, especially daily drinking, causes your hormone levels to rise, and exposes your breast tissue to a greater risk for cancer.
So, to lower your risk of breast cancer, empty your glass! And I don't mean putting away another glass of beer, wine, or liquor. The Cancer Council thought that 2 drinks a day was not harmful - until they did this study. Now they say that there is no safe level for alcohol intake. It has long been known that alcohol can cause cancers of the liver, head and neck, esophagus and mouth, breast and bowel. If you cut down on alcohol, or stop drinking it altogether, you can lower your risk for all these cancers.
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