Red wine offers new evidence for cancer prevention April 12, 2001
Kate Hunt, staff writer
Scientists have long suspected red wine may help prevent cancer and now they think they have discovered how.
A study published in the July (2000) issue of the US scientific journal Cancer Research has found that a compound called resveratrol, present in high quantities of red wine, stops a protein from protecting cancer cells (pictured) from the body's immune system.
Researchers Minnie Holmes-McNary and Albert Baldwin Jr. of the University of North Carolina's Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, found that wines made from the musk-scented purple muscadine grape contain up to seven times more resveratrol than other wines.
Over the last decade, the 'French paradox' has also been cited as a good reason to drink a glass of red wine a day. Despite the high cholesterol diets of the French, low rates of heart disease in France have been attributed to a glass of red wine at dinner.
But it is not yet known whether resveratrol can enter the blood by drinking wine. Emily Bone of the World Cancer Research Fund said the company would revise its non-drinking policy 'as and when it's proven to be beneficial.'
A spokesman for the Imperial Cancer Research Fund exercised caution, 'You'll need to look at how much wine you need for this to take effect - otherwise it might be counterproductive.'
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