Wine and your health - Part I
- Written by Maurice P Lee
Wine is not injurious to your health. There isn't any medical evidence anywhere in the world that says wine causes serious health problems. I'm not talking about hangovers, I'm referring to death related illnesses. Most articles on drinking point out the dangers of alcohol. What they should make clear is, that it's the abuse of alcohol that causes problems, not the alcohol. Alcohol is good. It's used in operating theatres and nearly all medicines in a pharmacy have an alcohol base.
However don't confuse wine with alcohol. Daily benchmarks for sensible drinking say if a man drinks 4 or more units of alcohol a day and a woman 3 or more, then they are risking their health. Remember that a 25ml measure of whisky (40% ABV ) or 125ml of wine (8/9% ABV ) = one unit. Drink a bottle of whisky and your alcohol intake is 30 units. Drink a bottle of wine and it's only 5 units. The latter confirms what Louis Pasteur said, which was, that a bottle of wine a day will be beneficial to your health. I'm not arguing with Louis.
A few years ago I was going for an operation and before wheeling me down to the theatre they asked me how much wine I drank. When I told them at least a bottle a day they relayed this to the surgeon. He asked me to confirm it. I explained it was part of my job and that two bottles would be nearer the truth. I also told him I had been doing so for over forty years. He carried out the operation, I survived and returned to drinking my daily quota of wine.
I know that abolitionists, prohibitionists and some doctors will throw their hands up in horror. However realistically, it is two glasses with lunch, two with dinner and two at bedtime. Seeing there isn't anything in wine to cause anyone any serious illness why not enjoy nature's wonderful gift. In fact wine contains all 13 minerals that the human body needs to stay alive as well as vitamins A,B,C and D. The reason doctors won’t mention these things is simply because they will blow their arguments out of the water.
I remember hearing a doctor on TV saying that diabetics should not drink wine because all wine contains some sugar. I hope he knew more about medicine than he did about wine because he's wrong. Many wines are fermented dry, Alsace being the most popular. Their wines have no residual sugar left after fermentation, as it is all converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Many reds are the same but if there is any residual sugar in it, it will be so minute that it won't ring any alarm bells where diabetics is concerned. I know quite a few diabetics who still enjoy their wine and don't experience any problems.
If wine was bad for health the Romans, Gauls, Phoenicians and Greeks would have known. They drank only wine, fought battles daily, cleansed and healed wounds by pouring wine into them and if they weren't killed in battle they lived to ripe old ages. I never heard of anyone in the wine business dying as a result of drinking wine. My colleagues having served a lifetime in the trade all retired and carried on drinking into their eighties. Some are still drinking.
If you want to enjoy a drink that contains some alcohol and you don't wish to drink wine, you could drink beer once you remember that half a pint of ordinary beer ( 3.5% ABV) will equal one unit. Beers like Special Brew have 4 units per can which is the equivalent of four measures of spirits. ABV on cans or bottles of beer vary more than wine so take care.
If you don't want alcohol of any kind you can of course drink water. Drinking gallons of water can be dangerous to your health. Prohibitionists, abolitionists, health freaks, dieticians, slimming clubs and mineral water manufacturers never tell you that water can be dangerous. So I'd like to mention a not so well known fact. Excessive drinking of water can put a great strain on the kidneys. It can lead to water intoxification when the blood gets overdiluted and the cells swell. This can prove fatal. Through straining the kidneys your mineral salts, sodium and potassium will be reduced but of course you can always replenish these by drinking wine.
Are there benchmarks for drinking water? Yes. A little more than one and a half litres a day is about right. Of course weight, diet and exercise should be taken into account. As a guide, about one ounce of water to every two pounds of body weight. My trouble is I don't get much kick out of water. It is good for washing though.
If you want alcohol stick with wine, it won't do you any harm. Just don't abuse it. Some people can drink a bottle of whisky a day without eating. The equivalent for wine (without food) would be about three and a half bottles a day. You might just find yourself sliding under the table before you finish your third bottle though.
When I say wine is not injurious to health, why should you believe me’
Well the proof is I'm still alive and still drinking between one and two bottles of wine a day.
Next: More facts about wine that doctors continually ignore.
By Maurice Lee
