Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Women who smoked and drank alcohol increased their risk of breast cancer. Passive smoking from husbands increased their breast cancer risk by 47% – 74%.
In 2013, there were 232, 340 new cases of breast cancer and 39, 620 deaths in the United States (1). Overall, cancer causes 1 in 4 U.S. deaths and costs our healthcare system $226 billion per year (2). The Centers for Disease Control recommends several paths to minimizing cancer risk, including knowing your family history, getting enough physical activity, making smart dietary choices, limiting alcohol consumption, and getting informed about hormone replacement therapy (3).
A 2013 study (4) found multivitamin use was associated with a decreased breast cancer risk, and another 2013 study (5) re-examined the impact of alcohol consumption and smoking on breast cancer risk. In the study, researchers compared 669 cases of breast cancer with 682 healthy age-matched subjects without breast cancer in the Jiangsu Province of China.
There was an expected increased risk of breast cancer from smoking (255% increased risk for those who had smoked at least 1 cigarette per day for at least 6 months (p < 0.05)) and alcohol consumption caused 86% increased risk for women who had consumed alcohol at least once per week for the past 6 months (p < 0.05)). A surprising finding was the role the husband’s smoking (passive smoking) played in the woman’s breast cancer risk. Specifically, women whose husband smoked at least 1 cigarette per day for at least 6 months experienced a 47% increased risk of breast cancer (p < 0.05), increasing to a 74% increased risk for women whose husband exceeded 30 smoking years (p < 0.05).
When suggesting ways to offset these health risks of smoking and alcohol (other than stopping both habits), the researchers pointed to increasing antioxidant intake to help deal with the harm of the toxins from cigarettes (of which 20 are known to be mammary tissue carcinogens (6)) but also alcohol. According to the researchers, “A lot of evidence suggests that antioxidant intake may reduce alcohol-associated breast cancer risk because it neutralizes reactive oxygen species, a second-stage product of alcohol metabolism” and that “Diets lacking sufficient antioxidant intake may further elevate the risk of breast cancer among alcohol consumers.”
Source: Gao, Chang-Ming, Jian-Hua Ding, Su-Ping Li, Yan-Ting Liu, Yun Qian, Jun Chang, Jin-Hai Tang, and Kazuo Tajima. “Active and passive smoking, and alcohol drinking and breast cancer risk in Chinese women.” Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 14, no. 2 (2013): 993-996.
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Posted April 12, 2016.
Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com.
References:
- “Breast Cancer” posted on the National Cancer Institute Website.
- “The Economic Impact of Cancer” form the American CancerSociety Website.
- “Prevention: Breast Cancer” posted on the CDC website
- Wassertheil-Smoller S. Multivitamin and mineral use and breast cancer mortality in older women with invasive breast cancer in the women’s health initiative. Breast Cancer Res Treat 2013 Oct 9. [Epub ahead of print].
- Gao CM. Active and passive smoking, and alcohol drinking and breast cancer risk in chinese women. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev 2013;14(2):993-6
- Reynolds P (2012). Smoking and breast cancer. J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia, DOI 10.1007/s10911-012-9269-x.
