Red Wine Could Lower Breast Cancer Risk, Study Shows

Yet another study has come out showing that moderate red wine consumption could have positive health benefits.

The study, published in the Journal of Women's Health, shows that women who drank 8 ounces of red wine for a month had slightly decreased estrogen levels. Estrogen is known to contribute to cancer cell growth.

However, the researchers found that only red wine had this beneficial effect because of the compounds found in red grape skins and seeds; it's not that white wine increases cancer-promoting factors, but that they don't have any protective effect.

"If you were to have a glass of wine with dinner, you may want to consider a glass of red," Dr. Chrisandra Shufelt, MD, assistant director of the Women's Heart Center at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, said in a statement. "Switching may shift your risk."

The study included 36 women who drank either 8 ounces a night of a Cabernet Sauvignon (a red wine) or a Chardonnay (a white wine) for nearly a month, and then switching to the other kind of wine. Their blood was collected twice a month so that researchers could measure their hormone levels.

Another study, published in the FASEB journal, showed that resveratrol, an ingredient found in red wine, could slow down the growth of breast cancer cells, BlissTree.com reported.

But not so fast. There is likely a thing as too much when it comes to alcohol consumption and cancer risk, previous studies have shown. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that drinking three alcoholic beverages week -- no matter the type -- could actually modestly raise breast cancer risk.

That study showed that drinking anywhere from 5 to 9.9 grams of alcohol a day -- or three to six glasses a week -- is associated with a 15 percent increased breast cancer risk.

However, because moderate red wine consumption has also been linked in research to better heart health, study researcher Dr. Wendy Chen told HuffPost that what she generally tells women is to "keep alcohol consumption at a few servings per week."

For more "bad" things that could be good for you, click through this slideshow:

Comments

[nerak kneeling]

12:56 PM on 01/16/2012

resveritrol is also found in mega red vitamin d3 capsules . no alcohol needed , that can become too habit forming.

[Mailman]

09:12 AM on 01/15/2012

The problem with this is people always over drink because they think they have the green light because it healthy.

[Promise]

11:18 PM on 01/14/2012

Since the important ingrediant in red wine, resveratrol, comes from the skin of the red grapes, I've always wondered if drinking grape juice would do the same thing. If you don't want to drink alcohol or want to limit it....?

[lady joanna]

08:31 PM on 01/14/2012

spam

[onionboy]

02:17 AM on 01/14/2012

I don't know about preventing breast cancer.

But red wine, in my experience, promotes breast exposure.

That's good enough for me.

[lady joanna]

08:32 PM on 01/14/2012

Naughty boy, onionboy!

[Er Pi]

09:04 PM on 01/13/2012

Funny this came out the same week a scientist is going to prison for fabricating and falsifying data in favor of the health benefits of red wine.

[Promise]

11:16 PM on 01/14/2012

Tell us more about this, please.

[Er Pi]

08:22 PM on 01/15/2012

Google Dipak K. Das. He was all over the news this week for fabricating the effects of the same super chemical this article claims stops breast cancer.