However, on a much brighter notes, this week I will point out that alcohol is not just alcohol, but the effect on us of consuming it is different depending on the source. In particular, the bodily effects of wine alcohol are, in several ways, different from other forms of alcohol.
I base this suggestion on this recent publication in the scientific literature:
Moderate wine consumption and health: a narrative review. Silvana Hrelia, Laura Di Renzo, Luigi Bavaresco, Elisabetta Bernardi, Marco Malaguti, and Attilio Giacosa. Nutrients 2023. 15(1): 175.This is a review paper, discussing the results of previously published work (as detailed in the figure above). The authors’ summary of their paper is this:
Twenty-four studies were selected after PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar searches for the evaluation of moderate alcohol / wine consumption and health effects: eight studies concerned cardiovascular diseases, three concerned type 2 diabetes, four concerned neurodegenerative diseases, five concerned cancer and four were related to longevity ... The analysis clearly indicates that wine differs from other alcoholic beverages, and its moderate consumption not only does not increase the risk of chronic degenerative diseases, but is also associated with health benefits, particularly when included in a Mediterranean diet model.There is, of course, a lot more to the paper than just this simple summary. It goes into quite a lot of detail about the effects of different nutrient chemicals, for example (what they call Bioactive Compounds). For wine and health, they evaluate the epidemiological data concerning low-to-moderate wine consumption and: Cardiovascular Diseases, Type 2 Diabetes, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Cancer, and Longevity. However, their simple conclusion is clear, concerning the benefits of what they call The Mediterranean Way of Drinking: Wine in Moderation.
Their ultimate conclusion is this:
Wine is actually an alchemy of unique properties, with a rich and original composition in terms of polyphenols and antioxidants, and a protective association between low-to- moderate wine consumption and cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and neurological disorders. There is therefore strong scientific evidence from Mediterranean and non-Mediterranean countries that moderate wine consumption increases longevity, reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, and does not appreciably influence the overall risk of cancer (even though it has to be underlined that not drinking alcohol is better for cancer prevention).This is in complete contradiction to the WHO. However, even better, in addition to all of the above, there is another, quite unrelated, report specifically about the effect of wine alcohol on our stomachs (How does alcohol affect the gut microbiome?):
What does alcohol do to the trillions of microbes living in your gut? ... It’s clear that happy microbes are essential for proper digestion, immune function and intestinal health ... Researchers found that those who drank red wine — or to a lesser extent, white wine — had greater gut microbial diversity than those who did not. No such link was found with beer or liquor. The researchers hypothesized that polyphenols, compounds found in grape skins that are in high concentrations in red wines, might explain their results.
So, these accumulating facts that wine is consistently different from both beer and spirits is a serious business. The World Health Organization currently has an extensive campaign against all alcohol, and yet it appears that wine should not be dumped into the same bag as the other forms. This difference matters to quite a few of us, who are regular wine drinkers! It should also matter to the wine industry as a whole. *
What are the general public supposed to make of this? We are being given seriously contradictory messages from different parts of the official media, regarding the consumption of alcohol, particularly in the form of wine. **
All of this type of conflicting information has, in the past, created confusion among the bureaucrats in the USA, for example. At different times they have gone from prohibiting the production, sale and commercial consumption of alcohol (1920—1933), to endorsing an average level of 1—2 drinks per day (Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010). Since then, the recommendation has been reduced to a maximum of 1 drink per day. This series of changes has been discussed in some detail online (The perpetual pendulum of US drinking guidelines). The recommendation may soon be revised to 2 drinks per week for all adults, in response to the pressure from what are referred to as the Neo-Prohibitionists. ***
Well, I am too old to change myself now. I will continue to drink wine in the same way that I always have: my wife and I share a bottle of good wine whenever we feel like it. In practice, this does turn out to be an average of no more than one drink per day, anyway. It is reported that other old people feel the same way (Results of consumer survey on U.S. wine market trends and challenges).
The Mediterranean diet is generally recognized as a healthy-eating plan, being focused on plants not meats, as described by the Mayo Clinic: Mediterranean diet for heart health. It has even been suggested that: “adhering to a healthy diet, in particular a traditional Mediterranean diet ... appears to confer some protection against depression” (Healthy dietary indices and risk of depressive outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Molecular Psychiatry 2019 24: 965–986). So, go for it!
You can also read about The Mediterranean Diet Wine Guide here or here. However, you should note that the evidence regarding this diet is actually pretty much the same as that for alcohol (see The hidden hitches in Dry January / Mediterranean diet plans).
Also, always remember what Eduardo Galeano once said: “We are all mortal until the first kiss and the second glass of wine.” And, of course, for what it is worth, the first attributed miracle of Jesus of Nazareth was turning water into wine for a wedding at Cana of Galilee (see The Mondavi Defense).
* The recent WHO pronouncements quite clearly treat alcohol as a toxin, just like most drugs (both legal and illegal). However, it is worth pointing out here that “alcohol is not best described as ‘a toxin’. It can act as a drug and have toxic effects, but it is first and foremost a macronutrient” (Alcohol’s surprising role in your health and longevity). It is thus metabolized like any other nutrient, by a natural biochemical pathway in our bodies.
** In 2021, Rob McMillan (of the Silicon Valley Bank Wine Division) apparently tried to establish an organization called WineRamp that, among other things, could counter misleading health-related data in a way that individual US wineries cannot. But he abandoned the effort last year because of a lack of industry support (Wine leaves a bad taste for younger drinkers).
*** It is worth noting here that the guidelines always talk about ‘daily standard drinks’ as some sort of average — but what time period do we average it over? If I drink like a fish for three years and then go cold turkey for another three, does the six-year average count? I doubt it! Medical people, in general, are interested in weekly averages or fortnightly averages, at most. That is, any potentially negative effects of alcohol can occur quite quickly, in the big scheme of things. [Thanks to Sandy Hathaway for raising this point.]
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