While the potential benefits of alcoholic spirits consumed in responsible moderation has been well publicized, so too has been the possible link between alcohol intake and the risk of breast cancer.  Now comes a study funded by the National Cancer Institute, through a research division of Kaiser Permanente, that examines a possible association between recurrent breast cancer in survivors and alcohol intake.

Culled from nearly 1900 early breast cancer survivors between the years of 1997 and 2000, 275 women later developed recurrent breast cancer.  Of the 275 women, 232 deaths were recorded.  Researchers then compared the rate of recurrence to alcohol intake and discovered that those subjects consuming more than two drinks of alcohol per day had a 39% increased risk of recurrent breast cancer.  In the subset of post-menopausal women, the risk nearly doubled, according to the statistics.  It should be noted that 90% of the women who consumed alcohol, did so in the form of wine.

Dr Marilyn Kwan, one of the study’s authors from Kaiser Permanente, suggested that one possible mechanism here may be alcohol’s stimulation of increased estrogen metabolism and increased circulating levels of the hormone.  This has also been a theorized mechanism for the link between alcohol and breast cancer in earlier studies.  The study accounted for folate consumption, a compound that some studies claim reduces the risk of breast cancer with moderate alcohol consumption.  In the future, expect that larger and more detailed studies to be initiated in order to better clarify this very important health issue.