According to a new study, consumption of red wine may reduce the risk of lung cancer in people, who had ever smoked and who drank at least a glass of red wine daily.

The study, published in ‘Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention’, found red wine contained compounds such as resveratrol and flavonoids, which may be protective against lung cancer.

For study, Chao and her colleagues looked at 84,170 men aged 45to 69 years old covered by Kaiser Permanente California health plans. 210 cases of lung cancer were identified from that data.

Researchers have measured the effect of red wine consumption on the risk of lung cancer and they found that there was on average a 2% lower lung cancer risk with each additional glass of red wine a man consume per month. Those people were 60% less like to develop lung cancer than those who didn’t drink alcohol. But quitting smoking was the best way to reduce lung cancer risk.

Researchers found that wine drinkers have healthier lifestyle and tend to have more education and higher income than non wine drinkers. Chao and her team says, “lends support to a causal association for red wine and suggests that compounds that are present at high concentrations in red wine but not in white wine, beer or liquors may be protective against lung carcinogenesis.”