Two glasses of wine a day 'puts breast cancer risk up by 50 per cent'

Just two large glasses of wine a day can raise the risk of breast cancer by more than half, research shows.

A study of almost 185,000 women found even moderate drinking significantly increases the risk of the disease.

A single large glass of wine a day raises the risk by almost a third.

Those who enjoy two large glasses a day are 51 per cent more likely to develop breast cancer than those who never drink.

The study - one of the largest of its kind - adds to growing evidence that links alcohol to a disease that kills more than 1,000 British women a month.

Experts believe alcohol is the biggest factor behind surging rates of breast cancer in the UK - and is to blame for one in 20 of the 44,000 cases diagnosed each year.

Drinking is also blamed for increasing numbers of women suffering liver and fertility problems.

Government statistics show a third of women are drinking beyond the recommended limit every week - and the middle classes are heavier drinkers than lower earners.

In the latest study, researchers from the University of Chicago tracked the health and drinking habits of almost 185,000 post-menopausal women for an average of seven years.

Analysis showed a clear link between drinking patterns and the development of the most common type of breast cancer - a form that is fuelled by the sex hormones oestrogen and progesterone.

The link applied to wine, beer and spirits and held even when other factors such as age, weight and family history of breast cancer were taken into account.

Beer raised the threat slightly more than wine, the American Association for Cancer Research's annual conference in San Diego heard.

Wine, however, proved to be more dangerous than spirits.

Overall, women who had one alcoholic drink a day were seven per cent more likely to have developed breast cancer than those who abstained.

Two drinks raised the risk by 32 per cent, while three increased it by 51 per cent.

One drink equated to 150ml of wine, three- quarters of a pint of beer or a measure of spirits.

With a large glass of wine containing 250ml, this means that two large glasses raise the risk of the disease by more than half, while a single large glass raises it by almost a third.

The researchers said: "Alcohol consumption, even at moderate levels, increased the risk of breast cancer.

"This suggests that a woman should evaluate the consumption of alcohol along with other known breast cancer risk factors, such as the use of hormone replacement therapy."

Previous research has shown binge drinking dramatically raises the risk of breast cancer, with women who drink the equivalent of two bottles of wine over a weekend more than doubling their chances of getting the disease.

Official health guidelines say women should drink no more than 14 units of alcohol a week, and men no more than 21.

One unit is equal to around one small glass of wine.

It is thought that alcohol stops the body from breaking down oestrogen, a hormone that can fuel the growth of breast cancer.

Chemicals produced when alcohol is digested may also be linked to the disease.