Alcohol & Breast Cancer

There has long been evidence that moderate alcohol consumption reduces the risk of heart disease.  ("Moderate" does not mean knocking back a six-pack a day.)  Time reports on a new longitudinal study of nurses that shows that even small amounts of alcohol on a regular basis increases the risk of breast cancer:

Dr. Wendy Chen, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and her colleagues report this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that women who consumed as little as three to six drinks a week over several decades were 15% more likely to develop breast cancer than women who didn't drink at all. Heavier drinking, defined as at least two drinks per day, was associated with a 51% increase in risk.

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/11/02/just-a-few-drinks-a-week-can-boost-breast-cancer-risk/#ixzz1cYs3675x

It does seem as though no matter what course of action you take, there are risks.  The bumper sticker "Life Causes Cancer" has some truth to it.