Moderate Red Wine Drinking May Help Cut
Women’s Breast Cancer Risk
Newswise, January 13, 2012--Drinking red
wine in moderation may reduce one of the
risk factors for breast cancer, providing a
natural weapon to combat a major cause of
death among U.S. women, new research from
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center shows.
The study, published online in the Journal
of Women’s Health, challenges the
widely-held belief that all types of alcohol
consumption heighten the risk of developing
breast cancer. Doctors long have determined
that alcohol increases the body’s estrogen
levels, fostering the growth of cancer
cells.
But the Cedars-Sinai study found that
chemicals in the skins and seeds of red
grapes slightly lowered estrogen levels
while elevating testosterone among
premenopausal women who drank eight ounces
of red wine nightly for about a month.
White wine lacked the same effect.
Researchers called their findings
encouraging, saying women who occasionally
drink alcohol might want to reassess their
choices.
“If you were to have a glass of wine with
dinner, you may want to consider a glass of
red,” said Chrisandra Shufelt, MD, assistant
director of the Women’s Heart Center at the
Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute and one of the
study’s co-authors. “Switching may shift
your risk.”
Shufelt noted that breast cancer is the
leading type of women’s cancer in the U.S.,
accounting for more than 230,000 new cases
last year, or 30 percent of all female
cancer diagnoses. An estimated 39,000 women
died from the disease in 2011, according to
the American Cancer Society.
In the Cedars-Sinai study, 36 women were
randomized to drink either Cabernet
Sauvignon or Chardonnay daily for almost a
month, then switched to the other type of
wine. Blood was collected twice each month
to measure hormone levels.
Researchers sought to determine whether red
wine mimics the effects of aromatase
inhibitors, which play a key role in
managing estrogen levels. Aromatase
inhibitors are currently used to treat
breast cancer.
Investigators said the change in hormone
patterns suggested that red wine may stem
the growth of cancer cells, as has been
shown in test tube studies.
Co-author Glenn D. Braunstein, MD, said the
results do not mean that white wine
increases the risk of breast cancer but that
grapes used in those varieties may lack the
same protective elements found in reds.
“There are chemicals in red grape skin and
red grape seeds that are not found in white
grapes that may decrease breast cancer
risk,” said Braunstein, vice president for
Clinical Innovation and the James R.
Klinenberg, MD, Chair in Medicine.
The study will be published in the April
print edition of theJournal of Women's
Health, but Braunstein noted that
large-scale studies still are needed to
evaluate the safety and effectiveness of red
wine to see if it specifically alters breast
cancer risk. He cautioned that recent
epidemiological data indicated that even
moderate amounts of alcohol intake may
generally increase the risk of breast cancer
in women. Until larger studies are done, he
said, he would not recommend that a
non-drinker begin to drink red wine.
The research team also included C. Noel
Bairey Merz, MD, director of the Women’s
Heart Center, director of the Preventive and
Rehabilitative Cardiac Center and the
Women’s Guild Chair in Women’s Health, as
well as researchers from the University of
Southern California Keck School of Medicine
and Hartford Hospital in Connecticut
