Is a Glass of Red Wine a Day Really Good You?

by WiredBerries Editors — August 13, 2007

Several studies have suggested that a glass of red wine a day may be good for you. The media "drank it up" and spread the news with wild abandon. Sales of red wine skyrocketed. Unfortunately, it no longer appears to be good advice! A major study has now revealed that drinking just a single glass of wine or beer a day raises your risk of bowel cancer by 10 percent. And the risk goes up the more alcohol you drink. For example, drinking more than 30 grams of alcohol a day (about two pints) increases the risk by 25 percent!

The study, which covered nearly half a million people and involved researchers from Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the UK, is published in the early online edition of the International Journal of Cancer. The researchers report, "In this large European cohort, both lifetime and baseline alcohol consumption increase colon and rectum cancer risk, with more apparent risk increases for alcohol intakes greater than 30 g/day."

The risk for bowel cancer is nothing to take lightly. One in 20 men, and one in 18 women, on average, will develop this type of cancer. The question medical professionals are now asking is whether recommending drinking a daily glass of wine for the heart is worth the increased cancer risk. The answer tends to be "no." In fact, the Mayo Clinic advises that drinking alcohol probably doesn't have any special benefit that you couldn't get from drinking plain old grape juice.

So we all have to go back to enjoying a glass of red wine with dinner with no other justification than pleasure.