Two steps to drop breast cancer risk

AUSTRALIAN women are eating and drinking their way to breast cancer, a confronting new study has found.

Being overweight and drinking alcohol have emerged as the top two preventable causes of breast cancer.

A University of NSW study of 200,000 women predicts they will cause 30,000 cancer cases in the next 10 years. More than one in two women drink alcohol regularly, and three in five are overweight or obese.

“We found that current levels of overweight and obesity are responsible for the largest proportion of preventable future breast cancers – more specifically, 17,500 or 13 per cent of breast cancers in the next decade,” says study author Dr Maarit Laaksonen. “Regular alcohol consumption is the second largest contributor – 13 per cent of pre-menopausal and 6 per cent of postmenopausal breast cancers, that is 11,600 cases over the next 10 years, are attributable to consuming alcohol regularly.”

The study found that risk of breast cancer increased with an average consumption of just one alcoholic drink a day.

About 18,000 Australian women a year are diagnosed with breast cancer; it is the most common cancer in women and the second leading cause of cancer death in women.

Dr Laaksonen said the study results suggested the need for a population-wide breast cancer prevention strategy.