|
If you like to unwind with a glass of wine, then this might be the news you’ve been waiting for, because according to a leading scientist, drinking just over a bottle a day won’t harm your health, says the news report in the Daily Mail
Dr. Kari Poikolainen is a doctor of medical science and adjunct professor in public health at the University of Helsinki, Finland. His research has focused on the causes and consequences of alcohol intake. He was the Research Director at the Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies before he retired to write a book about the positive health effects of alcohol. He used to work for the World Health Organization (WHO) as an alcohol expert, and examined decades of research into its effects.
Men are currently meant to have no more than four units a day but women are supposed to have three units – around the equivalent of a large glass of wine. A bottle of wine has 10 units. But he believes drinking only becomes harmful when people consume more than around 13 units a day.
He says, ‘the weight of the evidence shows moderate drinking is better than abstaining and heavy drinking is worse than abstaining. However, the moderate amounts can be higher than the guidelines say.’
Although there have been several studies showing positive effects of wine and alcohol on heart health and even blood pressure, dementia etc. they have generally suggested that the effects are positive for moderate drinking with 2 glasses of wine but cause negative effects including cancer and liver for higher amounts. A few studies have even suggested that even the lower amounts of alcohol have harmful effects like cancer.
Clearly there are some contradictions within the world of alcohol research. delWine strongly advises our readers to take this so-called study with a big pinch of salt or two glasses of wine. One may also like to be reminded about similar studies when two years ago Dr. Dipak Das from the University of Connecticut released many studies focused on the positive effects of red wine on the aging process, but was found to have committed data manipulation and falsification to justify the positive effects of wine.
Bottle a day of wine ‘is not bad for you’ screams the title of the article in the Daily Mail. We have refrained from even using such a title lest it leaves a positive impression on someone’s mind who is merely going through the headlines. We do not ‘support’ the findings of the doctor who seems to be otherwise qualified. No hard evidence is produced in the form of any studies.
The advice to our readers is clear-to store the study in their Trash Folder and not to take any cognizance and refrain from drinking over 2-3 glasses of wine a day. As the article quotes Julia Manning, from think-tank 2020Health, ‘This is an unhelpful contribution to the debate. It makes grand claims which we don’t see evidence for. Alcohol is a toxin, the risks outweigh the benefits.’
Subhash Arora
Tags: World Health Organization, Dr. Kari Poikolainen, University of Helsinki, Finland, Dr. Dipak Das, Julia Manning |