Drinking Before Having Kids Raises Breast Cancer Risk

Drinking a glass of wine a day may cut your heart disease risk, help you lose weight, or just make you generally healthier. But if you're a woman who hasn't had kids yet, it might also give you breast cancer, a new study suggests. The study found that women who had at least one drink a day between their first menstrual cycle and their first pregnancy were at significantly higher risk of eventually developing both benign and malignant breast cancer, HealthDay reports.

"The risk increased by 11% for every 10 grams a day of intake, about six drinks per week," the study's author says. Previous research has suggested the alcohol-cancer link, and that waiting to have kids could increase your risk. But this is the first study to focus on alcohol in the pre-pregnancy period. Breast tissue is especially vulnerable to carcinogens during that window, Science Codex explains. (More pregnancy stories.)