NO BREAST CANCER RISK FROM
CIGS
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Nov 13 2002
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Smoking is not a cause say
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Judith
Duffy |
SMOKING will not increase women's risk of
breast cancer - but just two glasses of wine does.
Although cigarettes are estimated to cause
a third of all cancers, breast cancer is not one of them, according
to scientists' research.
But the study reveals that for each unit
of alcohol drunk on a daily basis, the risk of breast cancer
increases by six per cent.
The study, published in the British
Journal of Cancer, estimates that alcohol accounts for around 2000
cases of breast cancer in the UK every year.
It was the first time that smoking and
drinking have been examined as separate risk factors for breast
cancer.
Sir Richard Doll, co-author of the study
from Cancer Research UK, said: "There has been a great deal of
research on whether smoking or alcohol contribute to breast cancer
but results have been confused,
"For the first time, we have a study large
enough and detailed enough to look at separate effects of alcohol
and tobacco reliably.
"When we did this, we found that drinking,
but not smoking, increases the risk of breast cancer." He added:
"While breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women,
survival rates are relatively good.
"A woman is more likely to die of lung
cancer because it is notoriously difficult to treat and lung cancer
is dependent on smoking, but not drinking."
The scientists do not know why alcohol
increases the risk of breast cancer yet, but there is some evidence
it raises the levels of oestrogens - female hormones - in the
body.
Sir Richard stressed: "Although our study
found a clear association between alcohol and breast cancer, it is
not a very big effect.
"Large amounts of alcohol are bad for your
health but we would not discourage women from having one or two
drinks a day because it carries a small risk of breast cancer.
"There are many things that have a small
risk and you have to weigh up the pleasure and the benefits."
The scientists from the Cancer Research UK
unit in Oxford analysed 53 worldwide studies involving 58,515 women
with breast cancer and 95,067 healthy women, studying their smoking
and drinking behaviour.
Sir Richard said: "This certainly does not
mean smoking is safe. Regular smoking doubles the risk of dying and
in middle age, it increases the risk threefold."
One glass of alcohol, on the other hand,
reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and heart attacks by 20
per cent in women over 65.
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