The current guidelines by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence state that women should drink no more than 2 or 3 units of alcohol each day. This is currently being reconsidered on the advice of doctors, to reflect that there should be at least three alcohol-free days per week.
However, new research has found that women who drink within the limits currently recommended are still actually putting their health at risk because just one small glass of wine (around 2 units) per day increases the risk of breast cancer.
The research was conducted on a large-scale (over 100,000 women were questioned), over several years (from the late ‘seventies to present) and is highly regarded. Even low levels of alcohol consumption are associated with an increased risk of developing breast cancer: around 15% greater risk than is found in women who drank no alcohol, with that percentage rising with greater amounts of alcohol consumed. Women who drank at least two alcoholic drinks per day were found to be 50% more likely to develop the disease. There was no increase in the risk of breast cancer amongst those women who drank one to three drinks per week.
The researchers reported that it might be that alcohol is having an effect on the levels of the female hormone oestrogen, which is known to raise the risk of some types of breast cancer.
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