Consumption of red versus white wine and cancer risk: a meta-analysis of observational studies​

Abstract

Objective: To perform a meta-analysis examining the association between consumption of wine intake (red, white) and risk of all and site-specific cancer. Data extraction and synthesis: We conducted a random-effects meta-analysis to estimate RRs and 95% CIs for an association between wine intake and cancer risk, overall and by cancer site. We performed meta-regression to examine whether cancer risk differs by type of wine (red or white). Results: The summary RR for the risk of all cancer (n=96,357) comparing the highest versus lowest level of wine intake was not significantly different by type of wine (red: RR=0.97, 95% CI=0.88 to 1.07, white: RR=1.02, 95% CI=0.93 to 1.11, Pinteraction=0.48). For individual cancer sites, there was a significant difference in associations between red and white wine intake only in skin cancer risk (Pinteraction=0.0003). White wine intake was associated with a 22% increased risk of skin cancer (RR=1.22, 95% CI=1.14 to 1.30), while no association was observed for red wine intake. We observed increased risks of breast cancer for both wine types (Pinteraction=0.61). Conclusions: In this meta-analysis of wine and cancer risk, we observed no difference in associations between red or white wine consumption on overall cancer risk. White wine intake, but not red wine intake, was significantly associated with increased risk of skin cancer but not with other cancers.