Does your doctor drink wine? Maybe you should ask them - and if they say yes, go on to ask them how they feel about the World Health Organisation zero-alcohol advisory that may soon be officially adopted as Federal Dietary Guidelines in the US.
One of the biggest problems for anyone seeking to counter that absolutist WHO messaging is that the people we are arguing with are doctors: the people we, quite literally, entrust with our lives.
Most of us, hopefully, don’t require regular interactions with health professionals, but when it is necessary, we often have to acknowledge that their comments on our weight, diet and the amount we exercise are supported by hard-earned experience and expertise. And are consequently hard to contradict.
Whether the doctors’ advice and warnings make us change our behaviour is another matter. Often that won’t happen until our bodies take over the messaging by breaking down in a sufficiently dramatic way. Even so, anything people in white coats with stethoscopes say has resonance. So, the wine industry absolutely cannot ignore an official stance taken by the organisation that represents them globally. Especially if, as my colleague Felicity Carter has revealed, the background to that advisory is so plainly open to question.
American wine professionals should also definitely do everything in their power to derail the tightening of the US guidelines which, Tom Wark points out, appears to be similarly questionable. But they may not succeed in doing so, any more than their neighbours north of the border did in preventing some Canadian health professionals from supporting similar zero-alcohol guidelines.
Millions of doctors
Canada has around 100,000 physicians. There are 140,000 in the UK, 150,000 in Australia and New Zealand, 1.1m in the US and 1.8m in the EU. Taken together, this adds up to nearly 3.3m doctors, to which should be added an even larger number of nurses, pharmacists and other health professionals.
Do they all, or even a substantial majority of them, agree with the hardline WHO stance? If so, we are going to struggle to prevent wine being treated like tobacco. But what if they don’t? What if enough of them enjoy wine in moderation or, even if they don’t for religious or other reasons, see no reason not to? What if they believe in the J-shaped curve, even if the WHO chooses not to?
Depressingly, judging by its website and the fact that the most recent events apparently took place in 2019, Physicians for Wine & Health is in less than vibrant health. But, in any case, it only claims around 50 members. The Society of Medical Friends of Wine seems to be in far better fettle, and its website features papers on wine and health penned by its members. Even so, its tone is one of what I would call ‘wine enthusiasm’. These are people who love going to wine tastings and visiting wineries.
Beyond the enthusiasts
Of course, the wine industry needs support from professionals like this, but it already has it. Including from one gastroenterologist-and-wine-writer who penned a 2016 opinion piece in Decanter magazine about Dry January in which he told readers that "If you think you need to take a month off, you’re either drinking too much during the rest of the year or you have a guilty conscience." I find that attitude frankly counter-productive as, I'm reassured to learn, does my favourite medically-qualified wine professional.
Far more important, I would say, are the opinions of hundreds of thousands, and possibly millions of other members of the healing professions across the world who, like their patients, simply enjoy wine in moderation.
Almost every wine professional knows at least one doctor, I would presume. Maybe it is time for us all to write to those men and women in an effort to involve them in what otherwise looks like a stand-off between their international organisation and our industry.
I am not expecting an organised group of medical professionals to break ranks with the WHO, though that would of course be an ideal outcome. What I might hope for, however, is that a substantial number of them would, if asked, say something along the lines of “I see no reason why a healthy patient should not enjoy a glass or two of wine with their meal”.
I look forward to hearing what readers and any medical professionals think.
The views and opinions expressed in the Devil's Advocate pieces are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the publication. They are intended to provoke discussion and debate. If you would like to offer your own response to this or any other article, please email the editor-in-chief, Anja Zimmer at zimmer@meininger.de.
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