Wine &
Health, aug/sep 2004
A study at Australia's Queensland Institute
of Medical Research has indicated a lower
risk of developing ovarian cancer may exist
for women who drink wine in moderate amounts.
"Moderate" is defined in this
case as an average of one or two glasses
of wine per day, and the decreased risk
was as much as 50%.
And this seems to be a wine-only benefit,
as beer and spirits drinkers did not show
the same benefit.
The surprising part of this study is that
although moderate wine drinking is now thought
to be beneficial in a number of important
ways, particularly for heart-related issues,
drinking of any kind has long been thought
to increase a woman's risk for breast cancer.
Researchers and other health industry experts
are now considering the correlation of moderate
wine drinking to other gender-based cancers,
like ovarian cancer.
The Queensland five-year study involved
some 1500 women across a wide age range
and examined ovarian tissue from each. The
results emphasized the possible preventative
qualities of wine, from antioxidants and
phytoestrogens present in wine, but stopped
short of indicating that wine offered any
healing effects for women who already had
ovarian cancer.
For more information, refer to: Cancer
Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention,
April 2004.
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