Adults who frequently drink white wine are 22% more likely to develop skin cancer compared to those who regularly consume red wine, a new study has shown.
Scientists from the Brown University School of Public Health believe that a high intake of wine could trigger high-risk behaviours, including inadequate sunscreen use and indoor tanning.
Academics are yet to understand why drinking white wine is associated with skin cancer more than drinking red wine.
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Throughout the trial, the team of researchers looked at the health outcomes of 96,000 participants from 42 observational studies.
Senior author Professor Eunyoung Cho said: “We conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis to assess whether red wine is truly a healthier choice than white wine.
“Our analysis included as many published epidemiological studies as possible that separately explored the relationship between red and white wine consumption and cancer risk.”
Professor Cho added: “The results revealed no significant difference in cancer risk between red and white wine overall.
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“However, we did observe a distinction when it came to skin cancer risk. Specifically, the consumption of white wine, but not red wine, was associated with an increased risk of skin cancer.”
Red wine is therefore healthier than white wine, according to the results.
Cancer can be triggered by the ethanol in alcoholic drinks because it metabolises into compounds that damage DNA and proteins.
More than 740,000 cancer cases in 2020 were caused by excessive alcohol intake, global data has shown.
Read the full study in Nutrients.
