Only one in five women aware of alcohol's role in breast cancer risk

PanARMENIAN.Net - Women know too little about alcohol's role in increasing breast cancer risk, a study suggests, according to the BBC.

Only one in five women attending a breast cancer clinic knew it was a risk factor.

But alcohol consumption is estimated to be responsible for 5-11% of cases.

Cancer Research UK said cutting down on alcohol was one of the best things women could do to reduce their breast cancer risk.

Two hundred women took part in the study, published in the online journal BMJ Open. They were either being screened for breast cancer, or having symptoms checked.

They completed questionnaires on lifestyle-related risk factors. Just under a third knew being obese increased breast cancer risk, and half knew smoking was another risk factor. But only 16% of women in the screening group, and 23% in the symptoms group, knew that alcohol is a risk factor.

More than half of those who drank alcohol (88 out of 152) thought they knew how to estimate the alcohol content of drinks, but less than three-quarters correctly estimated the alcohol content of a standard glass of wine, and just over half correctly estimated the amount in a pint of beer.