Red wine substance may reduce lung cancer risk

California, United States, October, 10: Adding more to the previous studies that have talked highly of health benefits of red wine, a new research has found that moderate consumption of red wine could decrease the risk of lung cancerdefine in men, especially among high-risk people such as smokers.

The study, published in Cancerdefine Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, found that an antioxidant component in red wine can decrease the risk of lung cancer.

U.S. researchers based their findings on data collected through the California Men's Health study, which linked clinical data from California's health system with self-reported data from 84,170 men aged 45 to 69 years. Of the study subjects, 210 developed lung cancer between 2000 and 2006.

In their study, lead researcher Dr. Chun Chao of Kaiser Permanente Southern California in Pasadena and colleagues measured the effect of beer, red wine, white wine and liquor consumption on the risk of lung cancer.

After accounting for the influence of age, education, income, exposure to second-hand smoke, body weight, and other relevant factors, Dr. Chao and colleagues found lung cancer risk is lowered an average of 2% for each glass of red wine consumed per month. They found the most substantial risk reduction among male smokers who consumed one or two glasses of red wine a day.

These men were 60 percent less likely to develop lung cancer than those who did not smoke daily and didn't consume alcohol. But reduced lung cancer risk was seen only with red wine, not with other type of alcoholic beverage, like white wine.

"An antioxidant component in red wine may be protective of lung cancer, particularly among smokers," said Dr. Chao.

The ingredient, called Resveratrol, is a polyphenolic compound which lies in the skin of red grapes and, therefore, in red wine. This compound had already shown some spectacular results of lower cardiovascular illnesses in worms, fruit flies and yeast.

"Red wine is known to contain high levels of antioxidantsdefine. There is a compound called resveratrol that is very rich in red wine because it is derived from the grape skin. This compound has shown significant health benefits in preclinical studies," Chao said.

Though the research exhibits the strong association between the red wine and reduced lung cancer risk among smokers, researchers still warn men to quit smoking as the best way to curb lung cancer risk.