Drinking red wine is associated with lower risk of lung cancer

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women worldwide, with an estimated 1.18 million lung cancer deaths per year. In this study we learned that drinking red wine is associated with lower risk of lung cancer.  If the findings of our study can be confirmed by other studies, we need next to learn why that happens.  Red wine is rich in antioxidants. There is a compound in red wine called resveratrol that is derived from the grape skin. Resveratrol has shown health benefits and anti-cancer properties in many pre-clinical studies.  What this study says is there may be compounds in red wine that could to be studied further for their potential in developing chemotherapeutic agents that can help prevent cancer. However, my first advice to men who smoke is to stop smoking.  Even men who drink one or two glasses of red wine per day still face a greater risk of lung cancer than do non-smokers. Smoking is hugely detrimental to health: it causes cardiovascular disease, many forms of cancer and chronic lung problems. Furthermore, this study should not be used as an excuse to drink more red wine.  Moderation is always the best course.


 

Bibliographic Reference

Chao C et al.: "Alcoholic Beverage Intake and Risk of Lung Cancer: The California Men's Health Study", Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2008, 17(10):2602-9

Chun Rebecca Chao
Department of Research and Evaluation, Southern California Permanente Medical Group, Pasadena, CA, USA