Everything we eat, do and think about has an impact on our health. As we look for ways to fight a wide range of diseases, the American Association for Cancer Research 2008 Annual Meeting suggested that continuous engaging in bad habits like drinking and eating fatty foods may lead to cancer, melanoma or other diseases.

The group is emphasizing the need to control our thirst for liquor and beer, especially among women, and food that may eventually post health hazards in the future. It was found that women consuming moderate amounts of alcohol may increase their risk of breast cancer. Comparing a heavy drinker woman consuming three or more glasses each day from a nondrinker, the former has a 51-percent increased risk of ER+/PR+ breast cancer.

Although links have yet to be established why women who drink alcohol have a greater risk of having breast cancer, but the results of the findings showed that many drinkers have suffered from breast cancer. At the same time, women who take hormone replacement therapy may suffer from the disease.

This was according to Jasmine Q. Lew, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Chicago who is conducting this research as a recipient of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute-National Institutes of Health Research Scholarship at the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics.

In a study conducted on NIH-AARP Diet and Health in 1995, Lew and her colleagues had 184,418 post-menopausal women who joined the research and were open about their daily alcohol consumption. After seven years of follow-up, they found that women who drink moderately have higher risk of developing breast cancer.

But Lew said several studies have yet to be considered to validate their findings. She added that there might be other factors contributing to breast cancer aside from drinking alcohol. However, she advised that drinking women should cut their alcohol consumption to avoid breast cancer.