IS THE MODERATE CONSUMPTION-BREAST CANCER LINK A STATISTICAL ARTIFACT?
Some data suggests it is an artifact resulting from the education and socio-economic patterns of women’s alcohol consumption. This is the conclusion of a team of Veterans Administration physicians lead by Dr. Randall P. Harris, M.D., Ph.D., of the American Health Foundation. In a chapter on breast cancer and moderate consumption, my 1992 best-seller, The French Paradox and Beyond, I reported: “Their logic goes as follows: (1) Alcohol consumption increases linearly with education. Only 39 percent of women with less than nine years of education call themselves drinkers; that rises to about 70 percent for women with 16 years of education. (2) Well-educated women most often postpone pregnancies, often into their late 2Os and 30s; less-educated women frequently have children in their teens. (3) Breast cancer risk increases as the onset of the first pregnancy is postponed. Therefore, the increased risk of breast cancer may be due to the postponement of pregnancy among educated women — who te
