Healthcare

Recent suggest archived in August 20, 201 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology reported that breast cancer patients should limit their alcohol consumption cause it may increase the recurrence of breast cancer.

Despite alcohol consumption had other suggestion data that possible have cardioprotective benefits, however, the evidence can be difficult for patients to interpret.

Therefore, according to the lead of study authors, a research scientist from Kaiser Permanente, Marilyn Kwan, PhD, the most importance advise that she can give is to talk their physician whether any lifestyle changes may had benefits after being diagnosed with breast cancer, such as the comparison between the risk and benefit from specific amount of alcohol consumption.

Dr. Kwan said, “Our study increases the limited and mixed evidence base to date regarding the role of alcohol consumption and breast cancer prognosis; namely, that drinking moderate to heavy amount of alcohol after a breast cancer diagnosis can possibly increase the risk of having a recurrence of breast cancer and dying from breast cancer.”

According to her, compared with women who did not consume any alcohol, they found that alcohol negatively affects the prognosis of all women diagnosed with early stage invasive breast cancer who consume at least 3 or 4 drinks per week.

She noted, the link appeared stronger in overweight and/or postmenopausal women, which perhaps indicates that women in these subgroups are more susceptible to the affects of alcohol.

Dr. Kwan explained, “Alcohol has been shown to increase estrogen metabolism and circulating estrogen levels in postmenopausal women, while being obese can also increase circulating sex hormones and insulin level.”

She added, “In general, an overabundance of estrogen production can lead to breast cell proliferation and possible carcinogenic events in the breast tissue.”

Although there was no association between alcohol intake and all-cause death, however, the author note that alcohol intake was possibly associated with a decreased risk for nonbreast cancer death, which would be consistent with current literature on “alcohol’s likely protective effects on cardiovascular-related outcomes.”

Michelle D. Holmes, MD, DrPH, an accompanying editorial from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, write, “Clearly, women with breast cancer are living long enough to be vulnerable to death as a result of cardiovascular disease, which is still the number one cause of death among US women.”

She notes that the study is important because it “elucidates a mystery in the literature” concerning lifestyle factors that appears to affect breast cancer survival.
She write, the data in this study showed the “expected decrease in survival when recurrence and breast cancer death were used as end points, and no decrease in overall survival with alcohol intake.”

She added that the study also important because of the guidance it can give to individuals living with breast cancer and their physicians.
She said, “Their decision is the same as that facing woman without breast cancer; the answer is not a clear-cut yes or no.”

According to Dr. Holmes, moderate consumption of alcohol is likely to increase a woman’s risk of dying as a result of breast cancer while decreasing her risk of dying as a result of heart disease.
Dr. Holmes note, “Whether to consume alcohol is an individual decision and is dependent on each woman’s evaluation of and comfort level with those risks.”