It’s no secret that red wine is thought to have some nice health benefits, but few researchers probably thought there would come a day that they’d discover that red wine may actually have cancer-curing properties. Well, friends…that day has come.
With lung cancer being the leading killer among all cancers, a group of Canadian researchers wanted to investigate red wine and how it may be able to impact cancer cells. The researchers from Brock University and McMaster University in Ontario made the decision to measure the impact red and white wine could make on non small-cell carcinoma lung cancer cells. All the wines were sourced from producers in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario and they used Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, and Riesling.
So, what did they find? Apparently both red and white wines stopped the spread of lung cancer, but red was the best at it.
“Our results demonstrated that while both red and white wines are able to inhibit lung cancer cell growth and oncogenic potential, there is a difference in the potency of the wines as these effects were only achieved with higher doses of white wine,” said Evangelia Litsa Tsiani, an associate professor of Community Health Sciences at Brock University and one of the authors. “We hypothesize that the total phenolic content, which was much higher in red wine, may be responsible.”
Don’t go drinking a whole bottle of red wine to try to avoid lung cancer, though. Though the study did show that red wine stops the growth and survival of lung cancer cells, it’s important to realize the tests were done on human lung cancer cells in a lab setting.
“Our next step is to use doses of wine that correspond to moderate wine consumption in humans, one to two glasses per day, and examine the effect on tumor growth in mice,” said Litsa Tsiani. “If we see a significant reduction in tumor growth with wine then we will have strong evidence that will justify the need of a clinical trial, a study in cancer patients.”
The full study will be printed in Cancer Cell International. Meanwhile, we’re going to stay tuned and keep our fingers crossed for some new positive developments in the future.