Could Drinking Red Wine Prevent Cancer?

Previous studies have shown that the antioxidants found in red wine can help with your heart health. Yet could it also help to prevent cancer?

Researchers believe that the chemical resveratrol found in grape skins and in red wine may be able to help repair damaged DNA found specifically in head and neck cancers.

Alcohol damages cells and resveratrol kills damaged cells," said Robert Sclafani, PhD, investigator at the University of Colorado Cancer Center and professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at the CU School of Medicine, in a news release.

According to study authors, DNA naturally accumulates tangles known as "cross links" and healthy genes that can repair and disentangle cross-linked DNA. In Fanconi anemia, a rare genetic disorder that affects about 1 in every 350,000 babies, children are born without the ability to repair DNA cross links, causing DNA damage to accumulate. These patients are at a greatly increased risk of developing cancers, including leukemias, as well as head and neck cancers.

As alcohol also holds the ability to cause cancer, researchers found that the genetic accelerator of cancer in Fanconi anemia is the same as the cancer-causing mechanism of alcohol. In both cases, the cause is from partially metabolized alcohol, as the body metabolizes alcohol by converting it first to acetyl aldehyde and then by using aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) to further convert it to acetic acid. When in a partially processed state of alcohol, acetyl aldehyde becomes a carcinogen and produces "cross links" in DNA.

As these patients are unable to repair the DNA that's produced by acetyl aldehyde, this can put them at an even higher cancer risk if they also lack ALDH.

Fortunately, researchers found that the resveratrol in red wine can help by killing the most dangerous cells and the probability that alcohol use will cause cancer.

"Because alcohol-related head and neck cancer has a high rate of recurrence, after a cancer has been treated once, you've still got a very high-risk population," Sclafani added.

At this time, the study authors are testing the ability of resveratrol to prevent colon and liver cancer, as well. They further plan to test resveratrol in the prevention and possibility treatment of head and neck cancers.

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology. 

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