A new report shows that drinking alcohol may reduce the risk of developing cancers of the lymphatic system, researchers said Tuesday.
An analysis of nine studies involving 15,000 people from the United States, Britain, Sweden and Italy showed that people who drank alcohol had about a 27-percent lower chance of developing non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) than non-drinkers.
On the other hand, but another recent report says that drinking as little as half a glass of wine a day may raise a woman's risk of developing breast cancer. And the more alcohol consumed on a regular basis, the greater the risk cancer specialists say.
The reason? Alcohol may change the way the body metabolizes estrogen and many breast cancers are fueled by the hormone estrogen. Therefore, regular use of alcohol is thought to increase the risk of breast cancer by increasing blood estrogen levels.
So, drinking lowers the risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma on the one hand and raises the risk of breast cancer on the other. What's a person to do?
1. Men drink up! Women back off the booze.
Posted at 3:04PM on Jul 31st 2005 by Nate