Many women drink alcohol socially, but they don’t know that alcohol could boost breast cancer growth.
This is the finding from a new study done by a group of UK researchers.
Every year, there are more than 54,000 new breast cancer cases diagnosed and 11,000 deaths in the UK.
Unhealthy lifestyle habits account for nearly 25% of all cases, with alcohol consumption and obesity topping the list.
Alcohol drinking may be responsible for between 5% and 11% of breast cancer cases, and the risk increases as alcohol amount increases.
In the study, the team wanted to know about prevailing levels of awareness of alcohol’s role in breast cancer risk; and whether women could correctly identify alcohol units in drinks.
They analyzed questionnaire and verbal feedback from 102 women attending for breast screening, 103 attending breast clinics, and 33 clinical staff at one UK NHS breast care center.
They found about 30% of women in each group recognized obesity as a risk factor and one in two correctly identified smoking as another.
But the women’s awareness of alcohol’s role in boosting breast cancer risk is poor.
Between 60% and 73% of the women said they drank alcohol, but only 20% of women attending breast clinics and that only half of the staff questioned at one NHS UK center knew that alcohol is a risk factor for breast cancer.
In addition, only just over 50% of those women who drank alcohol thought they knew how to estimate the alcohol content of drinks.
But in fact, less than three quarters could correctly estimate the alcohol content of a standard glass of wine or in a pint of beer.
This low level of awareness shows that understanding of preventable risk factors for breast cancer needs to be increased.
The team believes that the breast clinic and screening appointments may offer the opportunity to do that.
Being aware that alcohol drinking could contribute to breast cancer help women take actions to protect their health.
The study is published in the journal BMJ Open.
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