Red wine key to cancer prevention

Link : http://uk.news.yahoo.com/041028/344/f5giv.html


A glass of red wine a day could keep tumours at bay according to a study of men with lung cancer.

Research published in the specialist medical magazine Thorax suggested that each daily glass of red wine gives 13% protection against cancer when compared with non-drinkers.

But rose wine made no difference and white wine even seemed to have the opposite effect, the study found.

Neither beer nor sprits seemed to affect the development of cancer either.

The researchers, from the University of Santiago de Compostela, put the beneficial effects of red wine down to the presence of tannins, which have antioxidant properties.

Resveratrol found in red wine has also been shown to stifle tumour development and growth in experimental research, they said.

But they warned against drinking too much red wine in a bid to ward off lung cancer because of the negative affects of high alcohol consumption.

Between 1999 and 2000, the researchers assessed the lifestyles of 132 patients with lung cancer and 187 patients requiring minor surgery at the same hospital in north west Spain.

The patients, mostly men in their early 60s, were asked about their diet, smoking habits, occupation, and the type and quantity of alcohol they drank every day, including whether they drank red, white, or rose wine.

Both groups drank similar amounts of wine - around three-and-a-half glasses a day - but just over a third of the lung cancer patients drank red wine compared with over half of the other patients.