Breast cancer patients often wonder what their daughters might do to reduce their risk. A new study shows limiting alcohol consumption may be the answer.

Among adolescent girls with a family history of breast cancer, there is a significant association between the mount of alcohol consumed and further increased risk of getting benign breast disease as young women, authors of the study found.

Dr. Catherine Berkey, a biostatistician at Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, led a team that investigate childhood and adolescent risk factors for benign breast disease among girls with a family history of breast cancer.

Benign breast disease, a large class of breast ailments that can cause lumps or pain, is a known risk factor for breast cancer.

Among adolescent girls having a mother, aunt or grandmother with breast cancer the more alcohol the girls consumed, the more likely they were to develop benign breast disease as young women. The same held true for girls whose mothers had benign breast disease. These findings are consistent with previous studies showing that drinking by adult women increases their risk of breast cancer.

"Our study suggests that adolescent females already at higher risk for breast cancer, in light of their family history, should be aware that avoiding alcohol may reduce their risk for benign breast disease as young women, which might be accompanied by reduced breast cancer risk later in life," Berkey told a reporter.

Regardless of alcohol consumption, young women whose mothers or aunts had breast cancer were already more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with benign breast disease compared to young women with no family history.

Information was analysed from the Growing Up Today Study, which included females who were aged nine to 15 years old in 1996 and who completed annual questionnaires from 1996 to 2001, again in 2003, 2005 and 2007. The girls provided information about their alcohol consumption, age at first menstrual period, height and body mass index.

In the final two surveys, the girls (who were now 18 to 27 years of age) reported whether they had ever been diagnosed with benign breast disease. Participants' mothers reported their own cases of benign breast disease and breast cancer, as well as breast cancer in their sisters and mothers.

Another interesting study finding was that girls with a family history who had the most rapid height growth spurt were at increased risk. However, height and body shape impacted risks in girls with no family history. These findings suggest that risk factors for breast cancer may differ between women with a family history of breast cancer and those without a family history.

SOURCE: CANCER, November 2011