Alcohol is to blame for rising rates of breast cancer, experts warn today.

A study shows soaring levels of drinking among women are thwarting attempts to combat the disease with better screening programmes.

The research by experts at St George's hospital in Tooting shows the number of women diagnosed with breast cancer has risen over a 10-year period.

Previously unpublished figures show there were 4,198 cases among women in London in 2005, compared with 3,968 a decade before.

Researchers also analysed data on how much alcohol women drink and found the amount had increased by more than 40 per cent over the same period.

Breast cancer surgeon Professor Kefah Mokbel, who carried out the study, said the rise in alcohol consumption was to blame. Professor Mokbel, from St George's and the London Breast Institute, said: "We would have expected to see the incidence of breast cancer to be steadily dropping.

"This study shows for the first time that alcohol has a direct impact on the risk of breast cancer. We have no doubt that alcohol is one of the most important risk factors relating to our lifestyle." Alcohol can cause breast cancer by increasing levels of the hormone oestrogen. In the past, hormone replacement therapy and limited take-up of screening have been blamed for rising breast cancer rates.

But there has been a huge drop in the number of women using HRT and breast cancer screening has reached saturation point.

Professor Mokbel said these factors should have led to a decline in cancer rates. The Government is launching a health education campaign focusing on the link between alcohol and breast cancer.

In a separate study, the US National Cancer Institute found that women who had a single alcoholic drink each day had a seven per cent greater chance of developing the most common breast cancer than teetotallers. Women who consumed one to two drinks a day had a 32 per cent greater chance.

The St George's research is in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention.

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