Little Ol' Wine Drinkers of the World Unite!

Cassio. ...O strange! Every inordinate cup is unblessed and the ingredient is a devil.
Iago. Come, come; good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used; exclaim no more against it.

-Othello, Act II, Scene iii

It's a tough job but somebody's got to do it, if for no other reason than to set an example for the vacillating chicken-hearted men of the world. I have already taken the pledge. Have you?

"Wine is key to longer life, says new study"

At the American Heart Association Conference on Cardiovascular Disease, Epidemiology and Prevention this week a study was presented involving 1,373 men from the Dutch city of Zutphen who were born between 1900 and 1920, then followed for forty years. It revealed that men who drank a half a glass of wine per day lived on average four years longer than those gents who abstained from alcohol.

The participants . . . were followed until death or until the final survey taken among survivors in mid-2000. The surveys included drinking habits, dietary habits, body mass index, smoking habits and the prevalence of heart attack, stroke, diabetes and cancer. The statistics on alcohol consumption were adjusted to account for other risk factors.

Now wait a minute - I live in the United States of America, where alcohol comes in many disguises and some citizens have been known to visit the temple of Bacchus a little too frequently. What are the statistics on what kind of booze these geëerbiedigde mensen drank and how much they tossed down dagelijks?

The researchers found that long-term, light alcohol intake of less than or equal to 20 grams per day (1 glass of alcoholic beverage contains 10 grams of alcohol, 1 ounce = ~30 mL of alcoholic beverage) compared to no alcohol intake was associated with a 36 percent lower relative risk of all-cause death and a 34 lower relative risk of cardiovascular death. The average long-term daily intake of the men throughout the 40-year study was six grams based on any alcohol intake of more than zero and up to 20 grams. The long-term average intake of six grams of alcohol is equal to one four-ounce beer, one two-ounce glass of wine or one one-ounce glass of spirits, daily.

Grams! Ounces! Spirits! Glasses! It's all so confusing - can't anyone translate this into advice that average Joes like myself can understand?

Average alcohol consumption rose and then fell at various points during the study. Users' consumption was eight grams a day in 1960, then survivors' consumption was 18 grams a day in 1985, dropping to 13 grams per day in 2000. The percentage of wine users increased during follow-up from 2 percent in 1960 to more than 40 percent among the survivors in 2000. "One can speculate that a protective effect of light alcohol intake could be due to an increase in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, or to a reduction in blood clotting, due to an inhibition of platelet aggregation."

You're not helping. Next speaker, please...

Those people who already consume alcoholic beverages should do so lightly (1 to 2 glasses per day) and preferably drink wine," Streppel said. "The cardio-protective effects of alcohol and wine only held up for light alcohol consumption in middle-aged men. Heavy alcohol consumption may cause accidents and diseases such as cancer and cirrhosis of the liver, even though this was not observed in our study. Since alcohol consumption can be addictive, starting to drink alcohol because of its positive health benefits is not advised."

Ooohhh...now I get it! Good heavens, it's already two o'clock as I write this and I haven't even had my first glass of red wine yet. How can I endanger my health this way? This is irresponsible! I'm going to knock off and do something positive right now...something that will start me on the flower-strewn path toward old age and blessed happiness.

Or, am I premature in this decision? Nah - you know what they say.