Opening up a bottle of red has often been deemed the healthiest option when it comes to what kind of wine you drink, and a new study has revealed why choosing to drink white wine could be putting your health at risk.

Researchers from Brown University have conducted a huge study that has revealed a link between drinking white wine and increased risk of invasive melanoma in both men and women.

The study, led by Eunyoung Cho, an associate professor of dermatology and epidemiology at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, involved following 210,252 participants over the course of 18 years specifically looking at their alcohol intake. Those that drank beer, spirits and red wine had no link to melanoma risk but daily consumption of white wine saw a 13 percent increase of developing skin cancer.

Cho commented that she was surprised that there was such a difference between red and white wine when it came to increased melanoma as both have similar amounts of acetaldehyde however the antioxidants within red wine could counteract any cell damage within the body.

While it’s not necessarily determined that if you drink white wine as your daily tipple you will increase your chances of skin cancer, Cho does say to think carefully about how much you drink.

 “The clinical and biological significance of these findings remains to be determined, but for motivated individuals with other strong risk factors for melanoma, counseling regarding alcohol use may be an appropriate risk-reduction strategy to reduce risks of melanoma as well as other cancers,” Cho said. “For drinkers, risks and benefits of alcohol consumption have to be considered individually, including the risk related to skin cancer.”

Details of the study were published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.