There are many foods and substances associated with breast cancer, including BPA, phthalates, and parabens. We know it’s important to cut back on these things in order to prevent and protect against breast cancer. But there’s another popular substance that’s linked with breast cancer, and very few of us know about it: alcohol.

Alcohol is linked with breast cancer, but this isn’t anything new. According to research, “the relationships between alcohol consumption and cancer risk has been known since the beginning of the 20th century.”

In the years that followed, more research was conducted and in 1988, the conclusion was simple. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared that alcoholic beverages were “carcinogenic to humans.”

This was confirmed in 2007, and then again in 2010, when scientists confirmed that drinking alcoholic beverages caused specific types of cancer tumors, including oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus, liver, colorectal and cancer of the female breast.

However, when it came to breast cancer, it caused more deaths among women than in any other cancer type. Furthermore, a daily alcoholic beverage can increase a woman’s chance of getting breast cancer by 7 percent.

Over 100 studies have confirmed this association between alcoholic beverages and breast cancer risk. And in the US alone, it’s estimated that alcohol is responsible for 15 percent of breast cancer cases – that’s about 35,000 cases, and 6,600 deaths.

While there are many things out of an individual’s control when it comes to disease, alcohol consumption is one risk factor a woman can control to help prevent and protect against breast cancer.