Does Red Wine Prevent Cancer?

chillibreeze writer — Nina Rai

There are debates and studies galore going on worldwide, particularly in the US about the health benefits of wine. The early 90s saw a boom in red wine consumption in the US, sparked off by '60 Minutes' and news reports in Europe. Research indicates that wine taken in moderation confers health benefits where heart disease is concerned and also helps in protecting against certain types of cancer. This is believed to be due to the presence of antioxidants in the wine and also higher amounts of phytochemicals. This begs the question: can having an occasional glass of wine prevent cancer? According to some experts the answer is yes, particularly with regard to red wines.

Research in this direction does indeed look promising. Scientists are finding growing evidence that certain compounds in red wines might aid in combating different types of cancer. Red wines are rich sources of phytochemicals, especially a compound called polyphenols which act as antioxidant, thereby possibly preventing cancer. Phytochemicals are naturally present in the skin of grapes, which are used during the wine making process. Antioxidants are substances which protect the cells from damages caused by free radicals during the process of oxidization. The free radical chemicals have the capacity to wreck havoc on important parts of cells such as proteins, membranes and the DNA too. It is largely due to such damage to the cells that cancer develops.

Research suggests that there is a higher concentration of antioxidants like resveratrol in the red wine. Resveratrol is the magical compound is released from the skin and seeds of wine grapes at the time of fermentation. There is less of this compound in case of white wines, as the grapes’ skins are discarded during the white wine making process. Resveratrol is also understood to have other potentially beneficial properties, including antioxidant, anti-coagulant, anti-platelet and anti-inflammatory along-with having anti-carcinogenic propensities. Research also reveals that resveratrol can impede every step of multiple carcinogenesis. Studies conducted till date, indicates that it has the capacity to shrink, inhibit or destroy malignant cells in many types of cancer.

Scientific experiments conducted over a period of time on mice by various universities in United States indicate that resveratrol helps destroy pancreatic cancer cells, reduces the development of prostate cancer and breast cancer, kills leukemia cells, inhibits growth of tumors, and prevents melanoma. Use of resveratrol in clinical trails to counter neuroblastoma, a cancer of nervous system also holds great promise as it has been found to be toxic to cancer cells, while at the same time leaving the healthy cells untouched.
It may, however, be noted that scientists are still in for a long overhaul in affirming whether compounds like resveratrol hold great promise on its own or as a component of food sources like red wine, when it comes to disease-fighting properties. Therefore, unless more conclusive proof comes to the fore, it is prudent to follow prevalent medical advice and consume red wine in moderation. The ideal intake of red wine as per experts would be two servings a day for males and one serving a day for females, for overall health benefits. Each serving amounts to four ounces.

It may be noted, if you do not consume alcohol currently or are on medication, see your doctor first about including red wine in your diet. Never drink alcohol for medicinal purpose without consulting a qualified doctor. The other sensible option for prevention and overall health would be to take resveratrol in tablet form or drink grape juice or eat grapes. However, in case of the latter two, the health benefits will not be at the optimum as in the case of red wines. As stated earlier, it is in the skin and seed of the grapes the polyphenols are present and it is the alcohol during the fermentation process which causes the breakdown of the polyphenols into resveratrol. So for maximum health benefits, red wine consumption would be ideal, albeit in moderation. The new mantra would then ideally be ‘Have a glass of wine daily to keep the oncologist at bay.’

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Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in April, 2011. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.

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—About our writer:

Nina Rai has an MA from Mumbai University. She has corporate experience with giants like Taj Group of Hotels and Kodak, having worked in their advertising, human resources, and legal departments. She is presently a freelance writer based in Mangalore. She has vast experience in business, social and political content writing; report, article, web and seo content writing. She has written extensively for renowned websites like Daijiworld, Mangaloremithr, Small Enterprise India, Instablogs and Allvoices.

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