American Cancer Society Responds to JAMA Study

American Cancer Society
Wednesday, 18 February 1998

A new study published in this week's issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that a woman's risk of breast cancer may increase with the amount of alcohol she regularly consumes.

This study, which combines the results with six previous studies, is consistent with the findings of the American Cancer Society's Cancer Prevention Study II (CPS II), a nationwide prospective study of more than one million people begun in 1982. CPS II researchers related alcohol consumption reported in 1982 to death rates from specific conditions and to all causes during nine years of followup, adjusting for smoking and other risk factors. The study found that the death rate from breast cancer was 30 percent higher among women reporting at least one drink daily than among nondrinkers.

Because alcohol has been shown to increase risk for certain types of cancers, the American Cancer Society recommends that individuals limit their consumption of alcoholic beverages, if they drink at all.

For more information, or to contact American Cancer Society, see their website at: www.cancer.org