Alcohol

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Drinking alcohol regularly slightly increases your risk of developing breast cancer. The more alcohol you drink, the greater your risk.

To give you an idea of how, let’s take two groups of 100 women. The first group consumes no alcohol at all while every woman in the second group has one typical drink – say a pint of ordinary lager or cider or a standard 175ml glass of wine – every day.

On average, two more women in the second group will develop breast cancer than the non-drinking group.

The risk increases with each additional daily drink. So, imagine 100 women who drink two typical drinks each day. On average, five more women in this group will develop breast cancer compared with the 100 non-drinkers.

It’s not yet known whether binge drinking – having three or more typical drinks (six units or more) in a short space of time – increases the risk of breast cancer more than drinking the same amount spread evenly throughout the week.

Controlling your alcohol intake

As well as increasing breast cancer risk, alcohol can also increase the risk of liver disease, other types of cancer and accidents.

Alcohol consumption, unlike some other established breast cancer risk factors, is something you can change. National health guidelines recommend that women drink no more than two to three units of alcohol per day.

To give you an idea of what this means, here’s a rough guide to the units of alcohol in common drinks.

  • Single measure of spirits (with/without mixer) = 1 unit
  • 50ml glass of fortified wine, eg sherry or port = 1 unit
  • An alcopop = 1.5 units
  • Double spirit measure (with/without mixer) = 2 units
  • Pint of ordinary strength lager, bitter or cider = 2 units
  • 175ml glass of wine (standard measure)    = 2 units
  • Pint of strong lager = 3 units
  • 250ml glass of wine (large measure) = 3 units

If you're worried about your alcohol consumption or would like advice and support on cutting down your drinking, you should visit your GP.

Our fact sheet Alcohol and breast cancer risk: The Facts (675 kb) [pdf] has more information about alcohol and breast cancer.

For more general information and advice on healthy living and alcohol, including a tool to help you track the amount of alcohol you drink, visit the NHS Choices website.

Information last reviewed: 4 July 2011