When the surgeon general described alcohol as a preventable cause of cancer and recommended that alcoholic beverages carry warning labels, I felt conflicted.
As a wine and food critic, I have been writing about the pleasures of wine for 30 years and recommending bottles for just as long. I have also, especially over the last 25 years, tried to live a healthy life, eating a balanced diet, eliminating processed foods and beverages, and exercising regularly.
During that time, I have been drinking wine more or less daily, usually two or three glasses with dinner, which skirts the longtime government guidance of two drinks or less per day for men, but felt moderate and appropriate for me.
The surgeon general’s warning suggested that I’ve not only been engaging in risky behavior but recommending it to others as well. I felt bad, and defensive. How could this beautiful beverage that I love be considered hazardous when consumed in a thoughtful, careful way? Does that make me the equivalent of a drug pusher? Why single out alcoholic beverages? What about the risks of sugary soft drinks or ultraprocessed foods?
We’ve always known about the inherent risks of alcoholic beverages when consumed recklessly. Out-of-control consumption can be a menace, posing dangers to oneself and to society. That can’t be ignored. But neither can the social, emotional and aesthetic joys that wine and other alcoholic beverages have provided for centuries. These can’t entirely be dismissed.
In 2023, the same surgeon general, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, warned of an epidemic of loneliness and social isolation in this country. In my experience, wine has always been a social beverage, a component of meals that bring people together and create community. Whether you drink wine casually or love it enough to want to learn more about it, shouldn’t that figure into the actuarial equation?
When I drink wine, it’s almost always in the context of a meal, with food. I believe that’s the best way to experience wine’s joys and complexities. In fact, I think of wine as a food, a staple of my table. Not as an element of some fussy food-and-wine pairing, just as a basic ingredient of a meal.
That’s historically been the best role for wine, and I think that how wine and other alcoholic beverages are consumed should be examined further. The surgeon general’s recommendation does not distinguish between the various alcoholic beverages nor consider how they are consumed, socially or in isolation, with food or without. I’d like to know a lot more about that.
Let me be clear: I have never consumed wine or any alcoholic beverage because I believed it was good for me. Back in 1991, after “60 Minutes” reported on what it called the “French Paradox,” which associated moderate consumption of red wine with a low rate of heart disease, sales of red wine took a leap. For years, the wine industry benefited from promoting itself as healthful.
Now, as the societal view of wine and alcoholic beverages has turned in the other direction, sales are declining, and the industry has cried foul. I’m not overly sympathetic, except with individuals whose jobs or livelihoods are affected. If the wine industry wanted to portray itself as healthful, then it ought to have been prepared for being called unhealthful. What goes around comes around.
But are alcoholic beverages, and wine in particular, truly unhealthful, regardless of how they are consumed or in what quantity? I’m not a scientist or a doctor, and I’ve frankly found many of the reports on both sides of the health issue confusing and in conflict.
Last month, the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine found that, when reviewing all the available evidence, moderate consumption of alcohol, compared with zero consumption, was “associated with lower all-cause mortality,” by which it means “the total number of deaths in a population due to any cause.”
This report concluded “with moderate certainty” that moderate consumption of alcohol is associated with a higher risk of breast cancer compared to zero consumption. It also said, with the same level of certainty, that moderate consumption of alcohol resulted in fewer deaths from cardiovascular disease.
The findings of this report, which will be used to help shape new government dietary guidelines, run counter to other recent scientific studies, including a 2023 report from the World Health Organization, which warn that any consumption of alcohol, even the smallest amount, is not healthful.
When my sons were young, I used to tell them I planned to live until 100. I still tell myself that, and although I understand at a certain point longevity will be out of my control, it’s nonetheless a goal. How can I give myself the best chance of achieving that?
I find myself falling back on the old saw, moderation in all things. It sounds clichéd and even sanctimonious. But I have seen too many conflicting and changing opinions over the decades about ingredients like trans fats, oat bran, carbohydrates, caffeine and alcohol. It’s made me suspicious of abrupt changes in thinking and behavior. In the end, I can think of no better guiding principle than moderation.
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