For Women, the Wineglass Is Half FullWashington Post
Tuesday, April 22, 2008; Page HE01
Raising a glass of wine and wishing "Salud!" -- Health! -- is one of life's many pleasures.
But for women, this well-meaning cheer rings hollow: There's mounting evidence that drinking wine and other alcoholic beverages increases the risk of breast cancer.
That's not the image that many people have about sipping wine, beer or other alcoholic beverages in moderation. A recent Harvard study of 878 people found that nearly two-thirds of drinkers and about a third of teetotalers considered such imbibing to be safe and healthful. So healthful that about 30 percent of those surveyed said the purported health benefits of alcohol are one reason they drink.
The link between alcohol and breast cancer is something that "almost nobody in the study had heard about," says the survey's lead author, Kenneth Mukamal, an internist at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston. Only 10 percent correctly identified breast cancer as a possible risk of moderate drinking, the researchers reported in the journal Family Medicine.
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