
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 5, 1993                   TAG: 9305050153
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

STUDY LINKS DRINKING, BREAST CANCER RISK ALCOHOL FOUND TO ALTER HORMONE LEVEL

Two alcoholic drinks a day are enough to raise hormone levels in women and put them at greater risk of developing breast cancer, according to a study at the National Institutes of Health.

The research provides a possible reason that other studies have shown an increase of breast cancer among women who drink, said Marsha E. Reichman, who did the research while at the National Cancer Institute.

Diet and disease research over the last 10 years have shown that women who drink moderately have a breast cancer risk that is 40 percent to 100 percent greater than women who don't drink. Other studies have associated estrogen, a hormone, with breast cancer.

Reichman said the new study is the first to provide a link between the earlier findings.

A report on the study is to be published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The study comes three days after Boston researchers reported that three drinks a day may reduce the risk of heart attack by up to 50 percent.

The studies reflect an effort by biological scientists to relate the chemistry of diet to disease.

by CNB