Please pass a glass of red

Pre-diagnostic wine consumption may reduce the risk of death and relapse among non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients, according to an epidemiology study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research 100th Annual Meeting 2009.

Xuesong Han, the first author of the abstract and a doctoral candidate at the Yale School of Public Health, said, "This conclusion is controversial, because excessive drinking has a negative social and health impact, and it is difficult to define what is moderate and what is excessive," said Han. "However, we are continually seeing a link between wine and positive outcomes in many cancers."

This study was the first to examine the link among patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Han and her colleagues analyzed data about 546 women with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. They found that those who drank wine had a 76 percent five-year survival compared with 68 percent for non-wine drinkers. Further research found five-year, disease-free survival was 70 percent among those who drank wine compared with 65 percent among non-wine drinkers. Beer and/or liquor consumption did not show a benefit.