During the past decade, science found demonstrable benefits to cardio health from drinking Red Wine. Those benefits were attributed to Red Wine’s rich anti-inflammatory content. Now, a new study sheds some light on the relationship between wine drinking and cancer risk…
Previous studies have suggested that drinking wine – which contains substantial amounts of resveratrol and other anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant compounds – may reduce the risk of contracting certain types of cancer. However, the jury remains out on the issue. That, researchers say, is because the ‘vast’ clinical literature on ‘the carcinogenicity of red and white wine’ remains contradictory.
Researchers from Brown University (US) wanted to at least try to clarify the issue.
What they did
“We conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis to assess whether red wine is truly a healthier choice than white wine,” team co-leader Dr Eunyoung Cho said, “Our [data mining] analysis included as many published epidemiological studies as possible that separately explored the relationship between red and white wine consumption and cancer risk.”
The ‘meta analysis’ examined data from 42 separate studies involved more than 96,000 participants.
What they found
In short, “The results revealed no significant difference in cancer risk between red and white wine overall,” Cho reports. “However, we did observe a distinction when it came to skin cancer risk. Specifically, the consumption of white wine, but not red wine, was associated with [a 22 percent] increased risk of skin cancer.”
The study also found a stronger association between white wine intake and increased overall cancer risk among women. However, it remains unclear why white wine, in particular, is the culprit.
The takeaway
As often in early experiments and studies such as the Brown effort, one of main findings was that a great deal more study is needed to answer the questions this study raised.
The Crown team is already planning a closer look at the association between alcohol consumption in general and cancer risk, as well as the cancer risk dangers posed by increasing exposure to sunlight due to global warming.
My take
One thing the Brown study does prove conclusively is, the connections between alcohol use and a plethora of chronic health conditions remains… enigmatic. It may take a very long time, indeed, and wide-ranging additional studies to answer all the questions…
Meanwhile, the Brown study supports earlier finding: that Red Wine does appear to have real and palpable broader health advantages over white…
~ Maggie J.