Since January, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that "no level of alcohol is safe for our health," igniting a wave of alarmist news reports and protectionist governmental initiatives that have thrown the wine world into an existential crisis.
However, amidst the outcry, an important fact is often overlooked: moderate wine consumption might actually extend our lifespans. While mortality is inevitable, wine is unlikely to be the cause.
Hundreds of studies indicate that moderate drinkers enjoy health benefits, including a 10-30% reduced risk of heart attack, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease, compared to abstainers and heavy drinkers.
“These studies are solid, and data overwhelmingly shows that there is a potential cardiovascular benefit from drinking alcohol in moderation,” says Laura Catena MD. A Harvard and Stanford Medical School graduate, Catena spent 25 years as an emergency room physician in San Francisco before leading her family’s wine business, Bodega Catena Zapata, in Argentina. She has been actively challenging the WHO’s claims.
In a guide issued to journalists last spring, the WHO aimed to discredit decades of research by alleging sponsorship bias. News coverage echoed this assertion, but Catena argues that only 5.4% of 386 widely cited observational studies on alcohol and health were funded by the alcohol industry.
Moreover, the WHO’s scare tactics focus on cancer, overlooking the top two global causes of death: heart disease and stroke. Alcohol accounts for just 4% of cancers. By contrast, diet (30-35%), tobacco (25-30%), infections (15-20%), or obesity (10-20%) are more likely culprits. So if you want to quit something, why not start with charcuterie and cigarettes?
Miles Hassell MD, an expert in comprehensive risk reduction, notes, “Of the big international studies, I’m not aware of any that don’t identify the healthiest populations as the alcohol drinkers.” His book, Good Food, Great Medicine: A Mediterranean Diet and Lifestyle Guide, has been in print for nearly two decades.
“Half the patients I see are over 75,” Hassell says. “The eldest are active, not too heavy, don’t smoke, regularly drink a small amount of alcohol, and cook at home.” According to the data, older adults who drink moderately—even after heart attacks or cancer—live longer than lifetime abstainers.
The “French paradox”—the observation that red wine drinkers outlive those with similar lifestyles but different drinking habits—still holds true, he adds. Red wine, taken in moderation, benefits our hearts and guts.
Meanwhile, the WHO’s warnings have silenced some doctors. A well-known hepatologist declined to speak for this article but shared a Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) report on social media. The JAMA article suggests that alcohol-related cancers disproportionately affect the poor, while those of higher socio-economic status benefit from moderate consumption. In other words, too much cheap booze is harming the less fortunate.
“To say that alcohol is purely a toxin is an incomplete story,” says Martín Reyes MW, a wine importer and part of an anti-abolitionist movement within the wine industry. “It is either a toxin or a tonic, and it depends entirely on the dose and the pace.”
When people are told to cut out alcohol, they seek pleasure elsewhere. Marijuana use is increasing, and the "sober" are turning to unregulated psychoactive substances. Bourgeois women are microdosing on magic mushrooms. Despite little being known about these substances, they are assumed to be safe.
As the world grapples with an epidemic of loneliness, why not enjoy a beverage that has, for some 10,000 years, created camaraderie and eased everything from stress to arthritis? Wine heals—if enjoyed in moderation, with food, and with a focus on quality and enjoyment rather than quantity and oblivion.
— Katherine Cole is the author of five books on wine and the host and executive producer of the James Beard Award-winning podcast The Four Top.
Source: Decanter