A new study published in the American journal "Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention" finds that excessive consumption of white wine may increase the risk of aggressive cutaneous melanoma, a serious type of skin cancer.
Assistant Professor Eunyoung Cho from Brown University's Alpert Medical School and her research team analyzed data from three large prospective cohort studies. These studies involved approximately 210,000 participants, with an average follow-up period of 18.3 years. Researchers determined the participants' alcohol intake and types of alcoholic beverages consumed based on dietary questionnaire results. The results showed that consuming an extra drink per day (12.8 grams of alcohol) over the long term led to a 14% increase in the risk of melanoma. Among all types of alcohol, white wine showed the strongest association with melanoma risk, with one glass per day increasing the risk by 13%. No significant association was found between the consumption of beer, red wine, or spirits and melanoma risk.
Approximately 3.6% of cancer cases worldwide are closely linked to alcohol consumption, with the most typical being cancers of the respiratory tract, digestive system, liver, pancreas, colon, rectum, and breast. Previous research suggested that alcohol increases cancer risk mainly because ethanol is metabolized into acetaldehyde, which damages DNA and prevents DNA repair. The study found that the acetaldehyde content in some wines can even exceed that in beer or spirits. Although the amount of acetaldehyde in red and white wine is generally similar, the antioxidants in red wine can counteract the effects of acetaldehyde. Therefore, red wine has a better anti-cancer effect than white wine.