NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Moderate consumption of red wine might lower the risk of prostate cancer in men, according to a report in the International Journal of Cancer.

"The results of this study show that modest red wine consumption (four 4-oz. glasses per week) lowers the risk of prostate cancer by 50 percent," Dr. Janet L. Stanford from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, told Reuters Health.

"However, this is the first study to fully evaluate the risk of prostate cancer in relation to red versus white wine consumption, so further study is needed to confirm these results," she added.

Dr. Stanford's group used data from a large population-based study in King County, Washington, to investigate the relationship between alcohol intake and prostate cancer.

Men with prostate cancer were more likely to be black, to have undergone prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for prostate cancer, and to have a close relative with prostate cancer, the authors report. Prostate cancer patients were also more likely to have higher daily calorie intakes, more lifetime female sexual partners, and to be current smokers.

Overall alcohol consumption showed no clear relationship with prostate cancer risk, the results indicate, but beer or liquor consumption appeared to increase the risk.

Each drink of wine per week was associated with a two-percent decrease in prostate cancer risk, the researchers note, but this relationship was relatively weak.

In contrast, there was a significant six-percent reduction in prostate cancer risk for each glass of red wine drunk per week, the investigators report.

After accounting for other types of alcohol consumption, the relationship between drinking red wine and reduced prostate cancer risk was still seen. Drinking white wine had a weaker association with lower prostate cancer risk.

The negative association between drinking red wine and prostate cancer risk was also stronger in men with more aggressive disease, the report indicates, but there were no such associations for drinking white wine.

"The message is not to have men who don't consume alcohol begin drinking wine based on this one study," Stanford said. "However, men who already consume alcohol might consider making some of that a modest amount of red wine."

"If further study confirms our results, it looks like red wine may be beneficial for the heart and the prostate," Stanford said. "Only further research can address this possibility."

"We also are planning future studies designed to specifically test the hypothesis that red wine is associated with a reduced incidence of prostate cancer," she added.

SOURCE: International Journal of Cancer, October 15, 2004.

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