Adolescent alcohol consumption and breast cancer

	Tweet

Breast cancer patients often wonder what their daughters might do to reduce their risk of also developing cancer. Are there dietary intakes or behaviors that can be modified by their daughters to lower their own chances of getting the disease? A new study published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, sought information relevant to this question.

Dr. Catherine Berkey, a biostatistician at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, led a team that investigated childhood and adolescent risk factors for benign breast disease among girls with a family history of breast cancer. Benign breast disease, a large class of breast ailments that can cause breast lumps or breast pain, is a known risk factor for breast cancer. The authors found that among adolescent girls with a family history of breast cancer (or maternal benign breast disease), there was a significant association between amount of alcohol consumed and further increased risk of getting benign breast disease as young women.

The investigators analyzed information from the Growing Up Today Study (GUTS, founded by co-author Dr. Graham Colditz), which includes females who were aged nine to 15 years old in 1996 and who completed annual questionnaires from 1996 to 2001, then again in 2003, 2005, and 2007. Participants provided information regarding alcohol consumption, age at first menstrual period, height, and body mass index.

In the final two surveys, the participants (who were aged 18 to 27 years at the time) reported whether they had ever been diagnosed with benign breast disease. A total of 67 reported receiving this diagnosis (confirmed by breast biopsy), while another 6,741 reported they had never been diagnosed with the disease. Also, participants’ mothers reported their own cases of benign breast disease and breast cancer, as well as breast cancer in their sisters and mothers (maternal aunts and maternal grandmothers of the participants).

Young women whose mothers or aunts had breast cancer were more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with benign breast disease compared to young women with no family history. Young women whose mothers had benign breast disease also saw their own risk (for benign breast disease) nearly double. More importantly, among adolescent girls having a mother, aunt, or grandmother with breast cancer, the more alcohol the girls consumed, the more likely they were to develop benign breast disease as young women. The same held true for girls whose mothers had benign breast disease. These findings are consistent with previous studies (on older women) showing that drinking by adult women increases their risk of breast cancer.

“Our study suggests that adolescent females already at higher risk for breast cancer, in light of their family history, should be aware that avoiding alcohol may reduce their risk for benign breast disease as young women, which might be accompanied by reduced breast cancer risk later in life” said Dr. Berkey.

Furthermore, girls with a family history who had the most rapid height growth spurt were at increased risk, whereas in girls with no family history, height and body shape impacted their chances of developing benign breast disease. These findings suggest that risk factors for breast cancer may differ between women with a family history of breast cancer and women without a family history.

###

Jen Beal
healthnews@wiley.com
44-012-437-70633
Wiley-Blackwell

RELATED STORIES:
Risk of death after cancer diagnosis; shift in stage of breast cancer diagnosis   New United States mammogram guidelines ignite debate   Study Assesses Neuropathic Pain Risk for Breast Cancer Patients   Breast cancer rates fell with hormone therapy drop   Breast Cancer Not Just a Woman’s Disease   Researchers Identify Gene That Regulates Breast Cancer Metastasis   The protein TXNL2 provides human breast cancer cells with protection   Researchers Identify Key Gene That May Be a Marker of Breast Cancer Metastasis   Combined HRT increases risk of lobular breast cancer fourfold after just 3 years of use   Drinkers cut cancer risk with folate, study finds   Does mammogram row signal time for policy shift?   Walnuts May Prevent Breast Cancer   Breast Self-Exams Do Not Appear to Reduce Breast Cancer Deaths   Genetic testing helped breast cancer survivor   Breast cancer risk after false-positive mammography results   Clues to Pregnancy-Associated Breast Cancer Found   Mutation quadruples repeat breast cancer risk   Smoking Increases Breast Cancer Risk Based on Genes   Breast Reconstruction’s Modern Look   Genes Found to Play a Role in Breast Cancer’s Spread to the Brain   Breast cancer therapy may give rise to leukemia   What should be the goal of treatment in metastatic breast cancer?

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]