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White Wine May Be Bad For Your Skin, According To This Unfortunate Study

This is why we can't have nice things.

There have been numerous studies on the health benefits of white wine, however (dunh dunh duuunnhhhh), new research has discovered a possible downside to drinking all those glasses of Chardonnay.

The recent study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, found women with certain drinking patterns had a higher risk of developing rosacea — a common skin disease that causes redness on a person's nose, cheeks, chin, and forehead.

"We found white wine and liquor were significantly associated with a higher risk of rosacea," said Wen-Qing Li, the study's senior author and assistant professor of dermatology and epidemiology at Brown University.

For the study, researchers collected information on the alcohol intake of nearly 83,000 women enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study II every four years from 1991 to 2005. During that time, 4,945 new cases of rosacea occurred.

"For white wine, compared to never drinkers, [those who drank] one to three drinks per month had a 14 per cent increased risk of rosacea. For five or more white wines a week, risk increased by 49 per cent," Li said.

For those who drink five or more liquor drinks a week, the risk rose by 28 per cent.

A woman with the skin condition rosacea, which is characterized by facial redness and small, superficial dilated blood vessels.

Although the study couldn't determine why white wine and liquor seemed to increase the risk of rosacea, researchers said they thought these beverages could weaken the immune system and contribute to the dilation of blood vessels.

Unfortunately, the study could not confirm whether there was a link associated with white wine and rosacea for men, as the research just looked at women.

A study from last year found that drinking alcohol is associated with higher rates of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

White wine, in particular, had a bigger impact on the risks of melanoma than red wine, beer, or liquor.

Alcohol is thought to cause about 3.6 per cent of cancer cases worldwide, the study authors noted. "For some, like cancers of the digestive tract, the alcohol actually comes in contact with the tissue, so it's easier to understand," said study co-author Eunyoung Cho. "For others, like breast cancer, we don't really have a great explanation at this point why alcohol would be related."

Despite this admittedly bad news, there are some benefits to drinking wine. According to a study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, white wine could be just as powerful as red in improving heart function and preventing artery blockage.

And moderate red wine consumption has been found to help prevent heart attacks, increase the amount of HDL "good" cholesterol, and decrease the chances of blood clotting.

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