Heart Disease
and Drinking Wine: The Downside of Popular Belief
The
belief that drinking wine helps protect against heart disease is
wrong, according to The Globe magazine, published by the Institute
of Alcohol Studies in the United Kingdom.
Reports
in the early 1990's of the supposed health benefits of moderate
wine drinking in reducing heart disease led to an increase in wine
consumption in the United States of 50 percent. But the basis for
the conclusion-the lower incidence of deaths from heart attacks
in France compared to other nations-is unproven, says France's health
minister, Dominique Gillot.
"There
is no scientific consensus today over the protective effect of alcohol,"
says Gillot. "The link between the quantity of alcohol consumed
and the increased risk of diseases, particularly cancer, is, on
the other hand, scientifically validated."
In
the Globe report published earlier this year, some scientists believe
that the French statistics on coronaries are under-reported, and
that because of the high rates of alcohol-related diseases such
as liver disease and gastrointestinal cancer, people in France are
dying from such causes before they have heart attacks. Life expectancy
rates in France and the United States are similar.
The
ongoing dispute over the "health claims" for wine has lead to a
clash between wine producers who want to be able to make such claims
on wine labels and those who believe that even any possible health
benefits are far outweighed by the dangers of alcohol consumption.
"It's
ridiculous to accept such claims when we have so much documented
evidence on the health dangers of alcohol," says Thomas Neslund,
health spokesman for the Seventh-day Adventist Church and director
of the International Commission for the Prevention of Alcoholism
and Drug Dependency. "Alcohol is a poison, a very powerful drug
that causes damage to various organs in the body, including the
brain. You'd be foolish to expose your body to the effects of alcohol
for the doubtful belief of reducing heart disease."
As
for the "French connection," Neslund points out that the French
authorities are very concerned at alcohol's $18.5 billion annual
cost to their country and have among most stringent alcohol advertising
laws in the world, banning alcohol industry sponsorship of sporting
events, prohibiting TV ads for any kind of alcohol, and requiring
any magazine ad for alcohol to carry government health warnings.
Even
the existence of flavonoids in red wine, believed have some positive
effects on the body, is no reason to start drinking, Neslund adds.
"The same compounds are in red grape juice, so you can get the benefits
without the downside of drinking alcohol."
The
Adventist Church has promoted the benefits of avoiding alcohol as
part of a healthy lifestyle since its inception, with early Adventist
writers such as Ellen G. White identifying alcohol as a "poison"
well before all its toxic effects were scientifically established.
Sources:
May
30, 2000 Silver Spring, MD, USA .... [Jonathan Gallagher / ANN]
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