Moderate Drinking Doesn’t Increase Mortality in Women

Women have been told that drinking alcohol may increase their risk of developing breast cancer. Now, a large epidemiological study of roughly 23,000 women suggests that moderate alcohol consumption does not affect breast cancer mortality. The Collaborative Breast Cancer Study has been tracking women since 1988. Those who consumed alcoholic beverages, especially wine, in moderate amounts were 40 to 50% less likely to die of cardiovascular disease.
This observational research creates something of a quandary. After being told for years that alcohol is a risk factor for breast cancer, women may feel justifiably annoyed to learn now that moderate drinking might actually help survival rather than threaten it.
[Journal of Clinical Oncology, online April 8, 2013]
Although the risks of heavy drinking are clear, scientists have long debated the public health quandary that arises from epidemiological evidence that moderate drinking reduces the risk of heart disease death. Is it appropriate to tell people about this? The situation for women is even more complicated because alcohol does increase the risk of a breast cancer diagnosis.