https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/in-france-is-wine-still-a-national-treasure-or-is-it-a-health-risk/2018/03/05/729dfd74-2082-11e8-946c-9420060cb7bd_story.html?utm_term=.95afa26d4f97
Critics of the large amount of wine consumption in France are calling for more restrictions around wine and alcohol in general. According to the WHO, "French people over the age of 15 consume 3.2 gallons of “pure alcohol” per capita each year on average". These critics cite alcohol as the source of domestic violence, suicide, and accidental death, and are calling for health organizations to stop recommending alcohol "in moderation" and instead plainly state that alcohol (including wine) is just bad for your health.
Macron, standing strong with the wine industry, insists that wine is perfectly fine and that he has wine with lunch and dinner every day. Interestingly, he says that there may be health effects from drinking spirits or beer, but not with wine. This is particularly curious, since wine has higher alcohol content than beer.
I found it interesting to see this health movement in a country that holds wine so closely to it's national identity. It will be interesting to see how calls for public health interplay with the economics of the French wine industry and national identity in France.
To build on the question of health impact of wine vs other forms of alcohol, there seems to be a danish research that suggests wine drinkers have a substantially lower death rate than people who drink other forms of alcohol (https://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/news/20000918/heres-to-your-health-wine-vs-beer-spirits#1)
ReplyDeleteCurious to hear what other more medical knowledge savvy classmates think.
Another interesting study:
ReplyDeleteResearchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel looked at how alcohol impacted individuals with well-controlled type-2 diabetes and low risk for alcohol abuse. Type-2 diabetes is linked to higher levels of cardiovascular disease and have lower levels of heart-protective HDL cholesterol.
The study included 224 people who were assigned to drink five ounces of one of the following: mineral water, dry white wine or dry red wine with dinner for two years every day.
Compared to the water group, the red wine drinkers actually had significantly increased levels of good HDL cholesterol and had a more beneficial cholesterol ratio. Wine drinkers also reported better sleep quality.
Interestingly, the French Minister of Health warned against the dangers of wine, one of France’s cultural and financial pillars in early February.
ReplyDeleteCheck this out:
https://theculturetrip.com/europe/france/articles/french-minister-warns-against-drinking-wine/