Study shows alcohol consumption in young women leads to increased breast cancer risk

(http://www.healthcentral.com) According to a study recently published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, females who have one alcoholic drink per day between the time of their first menstrual cycle and their first child increase their risk of breast cancer by 13 percent and benign breast disease by 15 percent.

The study was performed by researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine who analyzed 91,005 health records of mothers enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study II from 1989 to 2009. The researchers found that breast tissue is more susceptible to cancer-causing substances during and after adolescence, as they undergo rapid growth during this time.

It is clear from this study that young women should reduce or refrain from alcohol consumption during their formative years to decrease their risk of developing breast disease. The increasing amount of time between puberty and a woman's first pregnancy also adds to the risk. One of the study's authors, Graham Colditz, MD, said, "Reducing drinking to less than one drink per day, especially during this time period, is a key strategy to reducing lifetime risk of breast cancer."