Each type of cancer has its own specific risk factors, most of which are found in a person's lifestyle. That's why we'll tell you what they are and how they affect breast cancer.
Leading a healthy lifestyle is the best decision you can make for your long-term health and quality of life. In the case of breast cancer, smoking and alcohol are significant risk factors that you should be aware of.
Smoking and breast cancer
Studies suggest that a history of smoking is associated with a 10% increase in the relative risk for breast cancer. Smoking for more than 20 years, more than a pack a day, significantly increases this risk of breast cancer by 13 to 16%.
The available evidence suggests that the relationship between breast cancer and active and passive smoking is more increased among young women, with pre-menopausal women who smoke having a risk of 17% compared to post-menopausal women (7%). Being a passive smoker also increases the risk for cancer by 11 to 15% and this risk is also seen to be more increased among pre-menopausal women than in post-menopausal women 21% versus 4%.
There is a need to insist on and raise awareness about the dangers of cigarettes and develop comprehensive, well-designed health communication strategies to impact the reduction of this habit, particularly among adolescents and young people.
Alcohol consumption and breast cancer
Alcohol can act by stimulating the production of estrogens and androgens that activate cell proliferation. It can also cause damage or affect DNA repair and, in turn, induce immunodeficiency, facilitating the formation of cancer or silencing defense mechanisms and helping its rapid progression.
Approximately 4% of cancers worldwide are caused by alcohol consumption. In 2020, more than 740,000 cases of cancer associated with alcohol consumption were recorded worldwide. Alcohol consumption, even with low intake (about one or two drinks per day), can increase the risk of cancer and it is estimated that more than 100,000 cases of cancer in 2020 were caused by low or moderate consumption.
The cut-off point at the level of consumption (dose threshold) that implies the greatest risk for the development of cancer is unknown. An Oxford study published in 2002 concluded that the relative risk of breast cancer increases by approximately 7% for every 10 g increase in daily alcohol intake. This percentage was even higher in a subsequent meta-analysis that included 98 studies with 20,000 more cases than the previous one, which showed that a woman who drinks two drinks per day (24 g) compared to someone who drinks on average one a day (12 g) presented an estimated 12% higher risk of developing cancer for each extra unit/drink of alcohol consumed daily.
Alcohol consumption combined with tobacco before the first diagnosis of breast cancer and continuing to consume it after diagnosis and treatment increases the risk of contralateral cancer according to the results of the WECARE study (Women's Environmental Cancer and Radiation Epidemiology). A recent meta-analysis assessing different lifestyle factors, including alcohol, confirms these results, but there is little evidence that alcohol consumption before or after diagnosis is associated with cancer-specific mortality in women with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.
Considering the risks that these two habits can bring, we invite you to have moderate consumption to reduce the chances of suffering from breast cancer. Building healthy habits will give you a better quality of life, take care of yourself!
Always with you.
Source: Santiago Escobar Gómez, mastólogo.
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