Drinking red wine lowers the risk of men getting prostate cancer, a study claims.
Moderate consumption, which means no more than a glass a day, cuts the chances of getting the disease by 12 %, according to an analysis of 17 scientific studies on men and their diets.
In contrast white wine may increase the risk by 26 % because of its alcohol content, researchers at the Medical University of Vienna concluded.
Red wine contains ten times the resveratrol, a compound found in the skin of red grapes, which may counterbalance the male hormones which trigger prostate cancer. However, Dr Iain Frame, director of research at Prostate Cancer UK, said: ‘It is not advisable to make any concrete conclusions about the link between drinking wine and prostate cancer risk based on this study.
‘We would not recommend that anyone changes their drinking habits based on these results alone.’