The question of whether postmenopausal women should stop drinking is not without consequence. According to epidemiologic studies, moderate alcohol consumption decreases the risk of cardiovascular disease in women by 17% (Hvidtfeldt et al., 2010) and stroke by 21% (Jimenez et al., 2012). Notably, the magnitude of these health benefits of moderate alcohol drinking are comparable to the 8–27% increased breast cancer risk of moderate alcohol drinking (Allen et al., 2009; Chen et al., 2011; Li et al., 2010). Therefore, suggesting that postmenopausal women stop drinking due to concern about breast cancer risk may in fact be counterproductive to their overall health and mortality (see also Fuchs et al., 1995). This is especially true if, as proposed above, alcohol acts as a cumulative carcinogen, and most if not all of the effects of alcohol on breast cancer risk were the result of drinking (or binge drinking) decades earlier in life. In contrast, the mechanistic basis for the cardiovascular benefits of alcohol are well documented, including relatively acute effects on lipid profile, platelets, and the atherogenic process (Zakhari, 1999). The need to
