Rather than write about me today, I decided to do some research and pull up some facts on the connection between alcohol and breast cancer.

Right off the tip, DuckDuckGo pulled up an article by the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which states in the very first paragraph, “A pooled analysis of data from 53 studies found for each alcoholic drink consumed per day, the relative risk of breast cancer increased by about seven percent. Women who had two to three alcoholic drinks per day had a 20 percent higher risk of breast cancer.” That’s a lot of percents! Most ‘normal drinkers’ will have a glass or two of wine nightly, and that 20% can add up quickly. Most ‘problem drinkers’ will jump down the rabbit hole and their percents are sky-high. It’s a miracle that I don’t have breast cancer, quite frankly. And I’m grateful beyond the tellin’.

This blog post pulls in information that states that, “For postmenopausal women even less than one drink a day was associated with up to a 30% increase in breast cancer mortality compared to non-drinkers.” Yikes. I’m heading in that direction, and a 30% increase is an increase I just don’t need, as I plan to live to be 110 and give my descendants a run for their money. 😉 I like how she mentions that one does not need to drink wine to get the benefits of Resveratrol – which, according to this article, you’d have to drink 1,000 litres of red wine daily to get, – and as for the atrial fibrillation, I know that there were many a nights when I woke to my heartbeat racing like a thoroughbred in the Kentucky Derby, and let me tell you, it’s one freaky, scary feeling when it doesn’t slow down no matter what you do.

Then I found a study that states no correlation in premenopausal women, but a definite one in post-menopausal women. Now one could conceivably think, “Yay, that means I’m ok!”, but the overwhelming body of research finds a correlation, regardless of age, between alcohol and breast cancer. Period (this raises the percentages more than in the Susan G. Komen article). So I’m with the woman in the blog mentioned above; stick with blueberries and grapes!

Breastcancer.org is full of all the latest info (as is Susan G. Komen); check them out. Educate yourself on this pervasive disease. And donate! The funds raised for the Avon 39 Walk to End Breast Cancer ALL go for breast cancer. All of it. Be a part of something wonderful and help!

And thank you. 🙂

©Pip Miller – July 2015