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Diet, alcohol affect breast cancer growth

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say diet and alcohol may affect the development of breast cancer tumors.

Researchers at Brown University in Providence, R.I., and the University of California, San Francisco, have linked environmental risk factors -- such as alcohol consumption and diet -- to genetic changes within breast cancers that may provide insight into how the disease will progress in an individual.

The study, published in PLoS Genetics, suggests the new biomarkers may give a more detailed view of tumor development and provide future diagnostic and treatment improvements as well as more personalized recommendations to help prevent the recurrence of cancer.

"This study provides a new window for finding environmental links to breast disease," senior author John Wiencke of San Francisco says in a statement. "Our work indicates that we will soon have new ways to monitor and assess lifestyle and environmental factors for breast cancer."

Wiencke and colleagues looked at tumor characteristics as well as demographic and diet information for 162 women enrolled in the Pathways Study, a Kaiser Permanente of Northern California study of cancer survivors.