SPECIAL REPORT

EVEN one glass of wine a day can put you at risk of cancer. That was the apocalyptic message from Britain’s Chief Medical Officer, Dame sally Davies, last Friday, as she announced that maximum advised alcohol limits have now been reduced sharply.

Men’s weekly limits are to be slashed from 21 units to 14, in line with women’s, while everyone is advised to take ‘several days’ off drinking to let their bodies recover. Furthermore, we were told that alcohol probably doesn’t protect the heart, as has been previously claimed.

The basic message is that alcohol is a danger to health, however little you drink. ‘There is no safe level of drinking,’ says Dame sally unequivocally.

Her warning received huge publicity — but, having looked in detail at the research into alcohol and health, I’m afraid to say she’s simply wrong. Her motivation may be admirable, but her knowledge of the scientific and medical evidence is decidedly not.

The irony is that if people who already drink within the old guidelines do follow her advice and completely stop drinking, their risk of disease and premature death will increase. Medical studies now running into many hundreds and published in the world’s top journals say that, providing you don’t go overboard on the booze, drinking will help you live a longer and healthier life.

The pioneer of these studies was Professor sir Richard Doll, the brilliant British research scientist who first discovered the link between smoking and lung cancer. With tobacco, he found that the more cigarettes people smoke, the younger they die.

But with alcohol he found the complete reverse. None of the drinkers he surveyed (incidentally, his fellow doctors) died sooner than the ones who didn’t drink — even the heaviest drinkers.

since his groundbreaking work in the Nineties, there has been a small tsunami of similar research studies which broadly confirm Doll’s original data, although it’s now clear that above a certain intake, death rates do rise substantially over the teetotal level. Most at risk are alcoholics and binge drinkers — typically people who get plastered every weekend. However, the data clearly still show that sensible drinkers live longer and healthier lives than non-drinkers.

How come? Contrary to the claims behind the new guidelines, alcohol reduces the risk of many diseases which lead to premature death.