Women drinkers, note this: There's mounting evidence that drinking alcoholic beverages increases the risk of breast cancer.

Just this month, Danish researchers reported more evidence linking alcohol consumption to greater risk of breast cancer in women.

The researchers tracked nearly 10,000 women for 27 years. The amount of alcohol consumed at the time they entered the study is what correlated best with breast cancer risk nearly three decades later, rather than alcohol intake after menopause.

If women do drink, the consensus is to limit alcohol to one drink per day. But just that amount of alcohol translates to "about a 10 percent increased risk of breast cancer," says Eric Rimm of the Harvard School of Public Health.

More alcohol equals more risk. "Some studies suggest that two or more drinks per day are associated with about a 30 to 40 percent increase in the risk of breast cancer," says Dr. JoAnn E. Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Just how alcohol raises breast cancer risk is still unknown. Alcohol boosts estrogen and other hormones, which are linked to breast cancer. Mixing alcohol with hormone replacement therapy can be particularly risky, Dr. Manson says, since alcohol and estrogen seem to augment each other.

But there may be ways to help cut the risk from drinking alcohol. The nutrient folic acid, also known as folate, which occurs in green, leafy vegetables, citrus fruit and dried beans, could offer breast cancer protection.

In 1998, researchers studied nearly 3,500 women with breast cancer and found no link between folate intake and breast cancer risk.

But when researchers looked at women who had at least one drink of alcohol per day, they found that breast cancer risk was greatest among those with the lowest folate intake.

"Our findings suggest that the excess risk of breast cancer associated with alcohol consumption may be reduced by adequate folate intake," the team reported.