Living in Shade

Some good news for wine lovers out there, a study released this summer that shows that wine may help alleviate some of the side effects of radiation therapy. The study, done by an Italian medical university, claims that a glass of red wine before undergoing treatment helps them better tolerate the treatment and reduces the adverse effects.

The study was conducted on 348 women treated for breast cancer between 2003 and 2007 at the radiotherapy and palliative care unit of the Catholic University of Campobasso. The results of the study concluded that patients who consumed red wine daily in moderation experienced a  75% reduction of the skin lesions associated with radiation treatment compared to those who did not consume the wine.

“Our data are to be taken with caution as our study was an observational one,” said Alessio Morganti, director of the radiotherapy unit.

“A formal randomized trial should now be performed. Establishing the role of wine and its non-alcoholic components is certainly a crucial issue that may open a new way for the preventive use of antioxidants,” he said.

While this study in particular used breast cancer patients, radiation is a common treatment option in many different types of cancers. This includes the vast majority of skin cancer cases, although not with melanoma. Melanoma is classified as part of the group of radio resistant cancers, as the dose required to produce an effect is considered not safe for clinical practice.

This is good news as far as I’m concerned because any natural way to reduce those horrible side effects is good in my book. I also fear as that people get a little overprotective of patients when their undergoing radiation treatment. A little red wine would be a nice break to take their mind off what their going through. The fact that it helps out is just more icing on the cake. A key word to remember though is moderation, we don’t need anybody going overboard

The full study is due to be published online in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics