As noted above, daily consumption of 15 g of ethanol/day does increase DHEAS levels, and this finding is consistently observed in other studies (Key et al., 2011). However, relating increased DHEAS to breast cancer risk is complicated. On the one hand, DHEAS can be metabolized to estrogen in target tissues, including the breast, via a mechanism involving aromatization (Geisler et al., 2011). As such, DHEAS could be considered an estrogen precursor. On the other hand, DHEA is an androgen, and androgens inhibit breast cancer cell growth (Labrie et al., 2003). Thus, more research into the relationship between alcohol, DHEAS metabolism, and breast cancer risk is necessary.
