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News
Glass of wine as harmful as ‘three shots’
Duncan Selbie, head of Public Health England, has said that drinking a glass of wine is as harmful as downing three shots of vodka as he warned about the dangers of drinking.
In his weekly briefing, Selbie pointed to the dangers of liver disease which he said is now the third biggest killer of working age adults.
He called it the “silent killer”, according to The Telegraph, “with 75% of people with cirrhosis only being diagnosed once they are admitted to hospital.”
He pointed to alcohol as the biggest risk factor, writing: “For example, a large glass of wine is like three shots of vodka, so it is very easy for people to pour a glass and have no idea how much they are drinking.”
As a result, he wrote, deaths among people of working age have increased by 500% since the 1970s.
Conservative MP, Tracey Crouch, former chairwoman of the alcohol misuse group, welcomed the news, telling the paper: “I’m really pleased that Public Health England has raised this, because raising awareness of this is not about telling people they cannot drink it is about getting people to understand the drinking habits they have, and it does become a habit, it become a habitual part of your evening rather than some sort of special occasion when people enjoy a glass of wine.”
She continued that people would not see the link and that calorie labels, one of the ideas Crouch put forward in August to combat alcohol deaths in the UK, were therefore required.
Amazing how a sweeping generalisation can be peddled as the gospel truth by a so called expert. And don’t even get me started on calories!
Would Mr Selbie kindly share the evidence he has to back up his statement – that as a physician I find hard to understand.
On balance, the Mediterranean diet must be the healthiest regime on earth.
Good (non-industrial) wine every day, olive oil, fish, salad, fruit, nuts – and exercise and good company – are a virtual guarantee of well-being. Damage sets in when people drink low-grade alcohol of any kind (and there are rotgut wines as well as rotgut spirits) and NEGLECT TO EAT. Medical studies have shown that good wine does not normally harm the system when people eat properly. The damage comes from binge-drinking and failure to eat. When wholesome fare accounts for the major part of a person’s nourishment there are rarely undesirable side-effects.
One cannot fail to notice that when studies show the benefits of (specifically) wine, that benefit is usually attributed to “alcohol” in general, so that hard liquor acquires spurious credit by association!
Frankly speaking, or writing, better to say, I think that Mr. Selbie belongs to the temperance league. But, even so, he does not know anything about what is talking about. He makes no difference between distilled and fermented and in the same time he cannot understand also,the difference in a glass of wine, when he says large – 20cl – 12/13%vol, the same amount of vodka – distilled – has 40/50% alc.vol, this means correspond 4 glasses of wine and a high calories increase.due the distilled alcohol. Curiously he does not mentioned the Scotch. Mr. Selbie need to understand that wine is a healthy and social drink, much better when with a dish and of course, with moderation. Mr Selbie alone is the only truth in this business, FIGHTING SO MANY STUDIES AROUND THE WORLD ABOUT THE GOOD PROPERTIES OF WINE.