Let’s face it — as we get older, then more and more of our health problems become obvious; and there are also usually inherited health problems that we have been dealing with all our lives. Alcohol is not usually related to any of this, in the sense that consuming alcohol is voluntary. Therefore, most alcohol–related health issues are chosen by us, not forced upon us.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Drinking can definitely be a problem, for some people. But so can crossing a busy road be dangerous, or even sitting in a moving car, let alone inherited health issues. None of these activities has a minimum level below which there is no effect on the person concerned. The big question revolves around what the actual consequence is, and what effect this will have on our lives.
Our own evolution had something to do with alcohol, because our ancestors ate fruits in all stages of ripeness, including ones so over-ripe that the sugars were already being converted to ethanol. All we have really done is learn how to control this process (How we evolved from drunken monkeys to boozy humans). In that sense, alcohol is a social issue that may be communally acceptable or not (The history of alcohol’s social acceptance).
For the individual body, on the other hand, the issue is more complicated (What does alcohol do to the body?). Indeed, alcohol can have both short– and long–term impacts on health and well-being (Your body on alcohol: how it affects your heart, liver, weight and cancer risk). Short–term, the liver can usually metabolize one “standard drink” every hour, on average (Neurosurgeon reveals how long it really takes for alcohol to leave your system). At the other extreme, as far as the effect on our longevity is concerned, we have even had this recent report: World’s oldest known person, who enjoyed a glass of wine every day, dies at 118.
In the past, things were different, of course: No more than a litre of wine a day, recommends a 1950s French sobriety poster.
By way of making this personal, let me tell you a simple, but true, story.
When I turned 50 (15 years ago), the university that I worked for at the time offered its employees a free “getting older” health check–up. As part of this, a nurse checked my blood pressure. She looked a bit non-plussed, and then checked it again. She then became Nurse — “Come with me”, she said, and peremptorily walked out the door. She went to the doctor’s office, knocked and walked straight in, without waiting for a reply. She handed him the equipment, and basically said: “Here, you check this.”
So, he checked my blood pressure, and then said to me: “How did you get here, today?” I said: “I walked.” He said: “Don't walk home. I'm going to give you a prescription. Get someone to *drive* you to the pharmacy; and do not do anything until you have taken the pills.” I got the message.
As he was writing, he asked: “Does anyone else in your family have high blood pressure?” I replied: “Yes, all of them — my father, my mother, my sister, my brother.” He nodded, and said: “You will be taking these pills for the rest of your life.” That is, the condition is inherited, and there is nothing that can be done to alleviate that situation.
Now, he was only partly right. I am still taking blood–pressure pills, but not the particular ones he prescribed (there was a complication with a side effect). Incidentally, I am also now taking pills for Type–II Diabetes, which I also inherited from my father.
My point here should be obvious — I have bigger health problems than a tendency to drink “too much”, whatever that may mean. My wife and I usually share a bottle of wine once per week, and sometimes twice. Any possible health effect of this behavior is the least of my problems. *
Anyway, here are some of the articles that I mentioned, which have recently returned to the topic that even small amounts of alcohol can be bad for you:
- Even a little alcohol can harm your health
- Alcohol and your health: Is none better than a little?
- New alcohol research shows drinking small amounts can still be harmful to health
- Is Prohibition returning?
- Debating the health benefits of wine: an update
- International Scientific Forum on Alcohol Research: critiques of recent publications
We do, also, sometimes get information from people who do have alcohol problems, even in the wine–blogging world. Consider these two heart–felt blog posts, which were the final ones from Fringe Wine, nearly a decade ago:
Clearly, the problems here went way beyond the possible effects of alcohol alone.
My summary:
There is a Risk–Benefit Analysis at work here. If having a glass of wine helps make your life enjoyable (indeed, worthwhile), then it is a good thing, even if you die a bit earlier because of it. If you are over 60, most industries aren't interested in you anymore, but the wine industry still loves you. Wine drinking is by and large an old person’s game!
* As an aside, the Swedish health–care system recently offered me a “65 year old” check-up for the possibility of an aortic hernia (for which there are usually no early warning signs, without the check–up). Early detection is always the key to the healthiest life you can have.
No comments:
Post a Comment