(Ivanhoe Newswire) – A glass of red or white wine a day might lower your
risk for one of the fasting growing cancers around today.
In a study involving 953 men and women, researchers found a daily glass lowered
the chances for Barrett’s esophagus by 56 percent. Barrett’s esophagus occurs
when acid reflux damages the cells in the esophagus over time. The cells are
transformed as they heal, and these transformed cells are more likely to turn
into esophageal cancer. The incidence of the disease has grown markedly in the
last 30 years, jumping 500 percent.
The study found no reduction in Barrett’s among people who drank other forms of
alcohol, suggesting there is something in wine that is having a protective
effect. While researchers aren’t sure what that is, they speculate it has
something to do with the antioxidants in wine, which may be neutralizing the
oxidative damage cause by acid reflux. Alternatively, the link may come from the
fact that wine drinkers tend to consume food with their wine, minimizing the ill
effects on the esophagus from alcohol.
So, should you drink a glass of wine a day to protect your esophagus? Perhaps,
but it is only one strategy, report the researchers, who emphasize these results
are part of a larger study on diet and esophageal cancer that found maintaining
a normal weight and eating lots of fruits and vegetables are key to preventing
the condition as well.
“My advice to people trying to prevent Barrett’s esophagus is: Keep a normal
body weight and follow a diet high in antioxidants and high in fruits and
vegetables,” study author Douglas A. Corley, M.D., a Kaiser Permanente
gastroenterologist, was quoted as saying. “We already knew that red wine was
good for the heart, so perhaps here is another added benefit of a healthy
lifestyle and a single glass of wine a day.”
SOURCE: Gastroenterology, published online March 2, 2009
