Red Wine May Protect Against Lung Cancer

October 28, 2004 - HealthDayNews

No other alcoholic beverage produced the same effect, study finds

Researchers say they may have found yet another health benefit conferred by red wine -- it seems to reduce the risk of lung cancer, at least in men.

The findings, published in the November issue of Thorax, echo previous research that found wine offers protection against some cancers.

But the researchers say the finding doesn't mean people should start guzzling more wine to protect themselves from lung cancer. The best safeguard, the scientists said, is not to smoke.

The researchers, from the University of Santiago de Compostela, compared the lifestyles of 132 patients with lung cancer to 187 patients without lung cancer who had minor surgery at the same hospital in Spain between 1999 and 2000. In both groups, nearly 90 percent of the subjects were men.

Both groups drank similar amounts of wine, about 3.5 glasses a day, the researchers found. (U.S. health experts caution that moderate drinking for optimal health is defined in general as one drink a day for women and two for men.).

The researchers found that each daily glass of red wine reduced the risk of lung cancer by 13 percent. Rose wine had no effect and white wine seemed to raise the risk, although the researchers said not many of the subjects drank white wine. Beer or spirits had no apparent effect on lung cancer development.

While the new research on the protective effects of red wine looks promising, another expert cautioned that it's not a call to change drinking habits. "One study should never make you change your habits," said Dr. Morten Gronbaek, a researcher at the National Institute of Public Health in Copenhagen, Denmark, who has published research on the protective effects of wine.

The Spanish researchers attributed the beneficial effects of red wine to its tannins, which have antioxidant properties, and to resveratrol, a substance shown to hamper the development of tumor growth in other research.

"Red wine has substances that are thought to be protective against lung cancers and other cancers," said study author Dr. Alberto Ruano Ravina, a researcher at the university. "These are resveratrol, polyphenols and tannins."

Considerable research has also found that red wine can protect against heart disease.

Lung cancer, considered the most preventable cancer by the American Cancer Society, is closely tied to smoking, with tobacco use accounting for 87 percent of cases. In 2004, about 174,000 new cases of lung cancer are expected to be diagnosed in the United States, and more than 160,400 people are expected to die from the disease.

In one of his studies, Gronbaek found that men who drank wine were protected against developing lung cancer, but he didn't ask the subjects if they drank red or white wine.

"Our group has made a few studies on the issue of type of alcohol and cancer, so this is indeed interesting news," he said. "The most interesting is the differences in risk of lung cancer among drinkers of red and white wine. This has been suggested but never actually reported before."

But it makes sense, he said, because there are more flavonoids, a type of antioxidant, in red wine.

The study is not a call to drink more wine, Ruano Ravina cautioned. "There is no optimal amount per day. If you want to prevent lung cancer you have to stop smoking or not start it. To drink red wine in order to prevent this disease is a very bad way to do it."