Kim HJ, et al. – This research dealt with the analysis of the correlation between alcohol consumption and breast cancer risk in younger women, based on family history of breast cancer and folate intake. A link was brought to light between higher alcohol consumption and increased risk of breast cancer among those with both a family history of breast cancer and lower folate intake.

Methods

• During this research, 93,835 US women aged 27-44 years in Nurses’ Health Study II were examined, who had alcohol consumption data in 1991.
• Alcohol consumption and folate intake were estimated via the food frequency questionnaire every 4 years.
• A total of 2,866 incident cases of invasive breast cancer were documented between 1991 and 2011.

Results

• Alcohol consumption did not exhibit any correlation with breast cancer risk overall (for intake of ≥10 g/day vs. nondrinking, multivariate hazard ratio = 1.07, 95% confidence interval: 0.94, 1.22).
• When the correlation was stratified by family history and folate intake, a positive relation was brought to light between alcohol consumption and breast cancer, among women with a family history and folate intake less than 400 μg/day (multivariate hazard ratio = 1.82, 95% confidence interval: 1.06, 3.12; P-trend = 0.08).
• There was no link between alcohol consumption and breast cancer in other categories of family history and folate intake (P-interaction = 0.55).