Thursday, December 4, 2014

Red Wine can cause cancer… and help prevent cancer?

Alcohol has been known to be a cause of cancer in the neck and head.  The relationship of alcohol and cancer became more prominent after the study of Faconi anemia.  Faconi anemia is a disease affecting 1 in 350,000 babies and is characterized by the inability to repair tangles of DNA known as “crosslinks.”  Cancer caused by Facoin anemia and alcohol-caused cancer, share the same mechanism of partially metabolized alcohol.  When alcohol is metabolized, it is converted into acetyl aldehyde before being converted to aldehyde dehydrogenase.  Acetyl aldehyde is a carcinogen and produces DNA cross links.  Though acetyl aldehyde is converted into aldehyde dehydrogenase, it still affects the body.  Because red wine is an alcohol, it has the potential to cause cancer.


While red wine has the potential to cause cancer, it is reported to have the fewest incidences of alcohol-caused cancer.  According to Robert Sclafani (PhD, investigator at the University of Colorado Cancer Center), red wine is able to block the cancer-causing effect of alcohol.  The reason red wine is able to block the effects is due to resveratrol, which is found in grape skins and eliminates cells with DNA damage.  In short alcohol can damage cells, giving them the potential to become cancerous, and resveratrol removes damaged cells.   However, if an individual was to still drink in excess it will still cause cancer.



I think the most interesting part of this article, is not the irony of red wine, but the potential of resveratrol.  It not only can help with killing potential cancer cells, it also has the ability to prevent damage to blood vessels, reduces low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and prevents blood clots.  I think it will be very interesting to see what medical professionals and scientist create with resveratrol and how it will help with cancer in the future.

8 comments:

  1. It really is ironic how the consumption of alcohol can both create and prevent cancer. Of course, an individual is likely to get cancer with excessive consumption of alcohol, even from red wine. If someone really wants to reduce their risk of getting cancer, it seems to me that chancing it even with the red wine is not their best bet. If the resveratrol comes from grape skins, consuming grapes would also come with the benefits of the resveratrol without the slim chance of cancer from the red wine. I agree that scientists will be able to use the newly found resveratrol to fight cancer in a new way in the future.

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  2. I think this would have potential because if you took the alcohol in small doses and in moderation I believe that things would be going good and not damaging cells.

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  3. I am sure its been done before, but i would love to compare the health of countries where there is a wine culture even at a young age compared to countries with alcohol restrictions like ours

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  4. I never knew alcohol could cause neck and head cancer, I was obviously aware of the negative effects alcohol has on the body, but I wasn't aware of the effects being particularly head and neck related. I think it is strange that alcohol can cause and prevent cancer, I think its amazing that red wine can actually block the cancer causing cells.

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  5. If resveratrol comes from grape skins then whats the difference with red wine versus white wine or what variants of wine could potentially be better or worse to drink.

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  6. The difference between white and red wine is that white wine is white grapes with no skin, red wine is made with red grapes including the skin. The skin of the grapes has the resveratrol.

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  7. I think this is interesting find with drink wine can cause cancer and prevent cancer. There is also other medical concerns that can be caused with drink wine/alcohol. So if the skin is still on the grapes when wine is made can prevent cancer; interesting.

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  8. I would love to see the effects of resveratrol used as a drug of some sort for cancer patients and if it could help at all, I don't know the extent of knowledge of this or what has already been tried but if it can block cancer cells maybe it could at lease stop some cancers from spreading.

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