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Red wine & cancer risk
Drinking a glass of red wine a day may halve a man's risk of prostate cancer, says an American study.
'Red red wine stay close to me...', the lyrics of this U2 song might be all the more relevant to you if you are suffering from prostrate cancer, for a new study suggests that drinking a glass of red wine a day may halve a man's risk of prostate cancer.
Researchers led by Janet L. Stanford at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center interviewed 753 newly diagnosed Seattle-area prostate-cancer patients as well as 703 healthy controls who served as a comparison group. Detailed information about tumor aggressiveness (such as tumor grade and disease stage) was obtained through the National Cancer Institute's Seattle-Puget Sound Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results cancer registry.
"We found that men who consumed four or more glasses of red wine per week reduced their risk of prostate cancer by 50 percent. Among men who consumed four or more 4-ounce glasses of red wine per week, we saw about a 60 percent lower incidence of the more aggressive types of prostate cancer. The more clinically aggressive prostate cancer is where the strongest reduction in risk was observed," Stanford said.
No significant effects were associated with the consumption of beer or hard liquor and no consistent risk reduction with white wine. This suggests red wine has a beneficial compound called resveratrol, which is abundant in the skins of red grapes but much less so in the skins of white grapes.
"From a public-health standpoint, it's difficult to recommend any alcohol consumption given the risks associated with heavy consumption, from increased overall cancer risk to accidental injury and social problems. But for men who already are consuming alcohol, I think the results of this study suggest that modest consumption of red wine - four to eight 4-ounce drinks per week -is the level at which you might receive benefit. Clearly other studies show that more than that may have adverse effects on health," Stanford said.
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