A glass of wine on daily basis could lower your chance of developing Barrett’s Esophagus, a precursor of esophageal cancer, new research in the March issue of Gastroenterology notes.

Barrett’s Esophagus affects 5 percent of the population and occurs when heartburn or acid reflux permanently damages the esophageal lining. People with this condition have a 30- to 40-fold higher risk of developing adenocarcinoma (a type of esophageal cancer) because the Barrett’s Esophagus cells can be transformed into cancer cells. The disease has no symptoms or warning signs and doctors only discover it after an endoscopy, usually to monitor another ailment, such as anemia, heartburn or a bleeding ulcer. There are currently no treatments for Barrett’s Esophagus.

The study was the work of Dr. Douglas A. Corley, a Kaiser Permanente gastroenterologist and his colleagues. They looked at 953 men and women in Northern California between2002 and 2005 and found that people who drank one or more glasses of red or white wine a day had less than half the risk (56 percnet reduced risk) of Barrett’s Esophagus. The participants who drank beer of liquor saw no reduction of Barrett’s Esophagus.

“We found no relationship between overall alcohol consumption and Barrett's esophagus, but the risk of developing Barrett's was lower among wine drinkers,” Corley said.

Although the study findings sound appealing for alcohol consumers, they should not serve as an impulse for them to indulge in drinking, Corley added. “At best, we can say at this point that alcohol does not seem to be a risk factor for Barrett’s and esophageal adenocarcinoma.”