Breast Cancer
_
Red Wine Study Hints at Breast Cancer Benefit
By Michael Smith, North American Correspondent, MedPage Today
If young women want a glass of wine with dinner, they should probably go with the cabernet sauvignon instead of the chardonnay. That's the implication of a small cross-over study that suggests that substances in red wine act as aromatase inhibitors, compounds that are used to treat breast cancer in post-menopausal women, according to Glenn Braunstein, MD, of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and colleagues.
The study in pre-menopausal women found no such effect with white wine, Braunstein and colleagues reported online in the Journal of Women's Health.
"There are chemicals in red grape skin and red grape seeds that are not found in white grapes that may decrease breast cancer risk," Braunstein said in a statement.
Epidemiologic studies have shown an increased risk of breast cancer associated with drinking alcohol, but the role of red wine has been controversial, the researchers noted. A study in 2009 found that the color of the wine had no effect on breast cancer risk and other studies have suggested it's the amount, not the type, of alcohol that increases risk.
To help clarify the issue, the researchers enrolled 36 women, with an average age of 36, and randomly assigned them to drink eight ounces red or white wine at dinner for 21 days, abstaining during their period, and then crossing over to the other type of wine for another 21 days.
They were asked to abstain from all other forms of alcohol and grape products.
The goal of the study was to see if the red wine resulted in changes in hormone patterns as measured during the follicular and luteal phases of three menstrual periods -- at baseline, after the first wine arm, and again after the second.
Braunstein and colleagues measured levels of estradiol, estrone, androstenedione, total and free testosterone, sex hormone binding globulin, luteinizing hormone, and follicle stimulating hormone.
Aromatase inhibitors work by blocking the conversion of androstenedione and testosterone into estrogen, which increases blood levels of testosterone and decreases estradiol, estrone, and sex hormone binding globulin.
Analysis showed that the red wine -- but not the white -- mimicked the effects of aromatase inhibitors:
Source : MedPage Today
Link to Source
Red Wine Study Hints at Breast Cancer Benefit
By Michael Smith, North American Correspondent, MedPage Today
If young women want a glass of wine with dinner, they should probably go with the cabernet sauvignon instead of the chardonnay. That's the implication of a small cross-over study that suggests that substances in red wine act as aromatase inhibitors, compounds that are used to treat breast cancer in post-menopausal women, according to Glenn Braunstein, MD, of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and colleagues.
The study in pre-menopausal women found no such effect with white wine, Braunstein and colleagues reported online in the Journal of Women's Health.
"There are chemicals in red grape skin and red grape seeds that are not found in white grapes that may decrease breast cancer risk," Braunstein said in a statement.
Epidemiologic studies have shown an increased risk of breast cancer associated with drinking alcohol, but the role of red wine has been controversial, the researchers noted. A study in 2009 found that the color of the wine had no effect on breast cancer risk and other studies have suggested it's the amount, not the type, of alcohol that increases risk.
To help clarify the issue, the researchers enrolled 36 women, with an average age of 36, and randomly assigned them to drink eight ounces red or white wine at dinner for 21 days, abstaining during their period, and then crossing over to the other type of wine for another 21 days.
They were asked to abstain from all other forms of alcohol and grape products.
The goal of the study was to see if the red wine resulted in changes in hormone patterns as measured during the follicular and luteal phases of three menstrual periods -- at baseline, after the first wine arm, and again after the second.
Braunstein and colleagues measured levels of estradiol, estrone, androstenedione, total and free testosterone, sex hormone binding globulin, luteinizing hormone, and follicle stimulating hormone.
Aromatase inhibitors work by blocking the conversion of androstenedione and testosterone into estrogen, which increases blood levels of testosterone and decreases estradiol, estrone, and sex hormone binding globulin.
Analysis showed that the red wine -- but not the white -- mimicked the effects of aromatase inhibitors:
- Compared with white wine, the red was associated with a higher level of free testosterone -- an average difference of 0.64 picograms per milliliter of blood (P=0.009)
- Similarly, it was associated with lower sex hormone binding globulin -- a mean difference of minus 5.0 nanomole per liter (P=0.007)
- Estradiol levels were lower after red wine, but the 14% difference did not reach significance, perhaps because of the small numbers in the study
- Luteinizing hormone was significantly higher after red wine, with a mean difference of 2.3 milliIU per milliliter (P= 0.027)
- There was no significant change in levels of follicle stimulating hormone, estrone, androstenedione, or total testosterone
Source : MedPage Today
Link to Source