Are You A Drunk? And Don’t Know it?

The now well-scientifically-established French Paradox — which has driven a wine/health craze  since the pivotal 60 Minutes Episode on Nov. 17, 1991 — is all about moderate consumption.

Red wine sales increased 44% after the broadcast … dropped off a bit, then soared again a year later when the program was re-broadcast. As a whole, per-capita consumption in the U.S was in decline until then. And has been on the upswing ever since.

However, wine industry neglect and government guessing, has made the defining of “moderate” an unclear and, perhaps, unhealthy situation.

What’s Moderate? What’s A Drink?

And are you a drunk and don’t know it?

WHAT IS MODERATE DRINKING?

The biggest problem with defining this level concerns how researchers and government agencies gather data.

In general, the vast majority of the hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific studies define “moderate” as 1 drink a day for women and no more than two. For men, that range is 1 to 2 drinks a day but no more than 3 or 4. Weekly consumption for “moderate” is 7 for women and no more than  14 for men.

This site: from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) offers the current definition of Moderate & Binge Drinking. While NIAAA receives almost half a billion dollars per year in tax funds, as far as can be determined, they have never conducted studies on the health benefits of moderate consumption.

That may seem unfair, but they are in keeping with other government-sponsored alcohol organizations including those at the United Nations.

DATA COLLECTION ISSUES PLAGUE “STANDARDIZATION”

The definitions of “moderate” and “binge” are somewhat based on the extensive research showing that moderate drinkers of alcohol live longer and more illness-free lives than either heavy drinkers or abstainers (with corrections for abstainers who do not drink because of illness or other health issues).

However, those definitions are based on self-reported consumption data from alcohol consumers who may underestimate the number of drinks they consume. In addition, most drinkers do not have a precise idea of exactly what constitutes “a drink.”

In the absence of hard data in large population studies in hundreds of scientific papers, government agencies have basically made a wild guess and decided that the “standard” is one that contains a very small amount of alcohol — 14 grams.

This is a timeworn bureaucratic technique: when the facts aren’t available, make one up.

And thus, the “standard” drink was invented based on a guess with no solid facts at all.

But like so many government pronouncements — especially when UNchallenged by private parties — this bureaucratic invention of convenience has achieved the level of dogma.

SO WHAT IS THE GOVERNMENT DEFINITION OF A “STANDARD” DRINK?

Let’s get a little metric conversion out of the way, since — at least in the U.S. and UK, the bottles are metric and the government standards not so much.

You can have fun with the Liters to US Fluid Ounces online converter, or just follow along here:

• 750ml bottle = 0.75 liters =25.361 fluid ounces (fl.oz)
• 1 fl.oz = 29.57 ml

A “standard drink” (What Is a Standard Drink? – from NIAAA.) of wine (12% ABV) = 5 fl.oz. = 147.85 ml

HOW MANY “STANDARD” DRINKS ARE IN A BOTTLE

5 x 147.85 ml = 739.25 ml … thus there are a little over 5 standard “drinks” of 12% wine in a bottle.

So, to be moderate by government standards, a woman can have one, 5-ounce pour each day. A guy, 2 or 3 … but the weekly cap is 7 and 14 respectively.

So, in a week, less than bottle and a half max for women and 3 for men.

BUT WAIT! MANY WINES TODAY ARE 14% AND UP

Right.

So, the amount you can consume and still be considered moderate — by government standards — is 14% less (12%ABV/14%ABV=0.86). 14% less wine is about 1/7 less to be moderate.

So, women? Only six drinks a week — about one bottle. Guys? 12 drinks max, not 14 — about 2-1/2 bottles.

High-alcohol wines means a moderate drinker needs to drink less, buy  less. Winemakers may want to give this a little thought.

WHY DOESN’T SOMEONE CLEAR THIS UP?

Excellent question.

Because the government definition of a “standard” drink is based more on a guess than science, a health-conscious wine drinker is left rudderless. Do under-reporting and a drinker’s imprecision in the size of his/her drink mean that moderate is more than the government says?

Or not.

Or is this a huge maneuvering space for the true heavy drinker whose denial gets counted in drinks regardless of the size of the glass?

Every large wine company — along with industry organizations like the Wine Institute — have simply played dumb on this issue.

Their silence only lends credence to the very loud and continual voices of the government and the many well-funded anti-alcohol organizations.

Silence is bad for the industry and even worse for the public health.

A new health-driven movement based on faulty government information just might be the anti-French Paradox the NeoProhibitionists have been working tirelessly to achieve.

---

Disclosure: Lewis Perdue is the author of The French Paradox and Beyond: Living Longer With Wine and the Mediterannean Lifestyle. THis bestseller was written in 1992, but all the science in it has been upheld, re-confirmed and expanded. Lew is contemplating an update.