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Should Doctors Recommend Drinking Alcohol to Patients for Good Health?

by David J. Hanson, Ph. D.

Moderate drinking is associated with better health and longer life than is either abstaining or abusing alcohol. That’s the consensus of medical researchers based on overwhelming scientific evidence. Well known medical authority Dean Edell, M.D., asserts that “you would have to be living on another planet not to know that alcohol -- in moderation -- is good for your health.” 1

Of course, not everyone should drink alcohol, including pregnant women, those who have ever experienced difficulty controlling their drinking, or anyone whose physician recommends abstinence.

Consuming alcohol in moderation reduces the risk of heart disease dramatically. It also significantly reduces the risk of stroke and other major causes of death. And evidence of the overall health benefits of moderate drinking continues to grow.

Most Americans drink less than the optimum amount desirable for maximum health benefits. Dr. Stanton Peele says that

many object to the idea that doctors should inform their patients that moderate drinking may prolong life. They fear that such advice will justify the excessive drinking some patients already engage in, or they worry that encouragement from doctors will push people who cannot handle alcohol to drink.

The view that people are so stupid or malleable that they will become alcohol abusers because doctors tell them that moderate drinking is good for them is demeaning and self-defeating. If people can't regulate their own diets, drinking, and exercise, then doctors should avoid giving patients any information about their health behavior, no matter how potentially helpful.

Not only can people handle such information on lifestyle, it offers the primary and best way to attack heart disease. Of course, doctors may also prescribe medications. These medications rarely solve underlying problems, however; and they often cause adverse side effects that counterbalance their positive effects. Because they are not a cure, courses of medication, once begun, are rarely discontinued.

People are the best regulators of their own behaviors. Even those who drink excessively often benefit when doctors provide straightforward, accurate information. Clinical trials conducted by the World Health Organization around the world showed that so-called brief interventions, in which medical personnel advised heavy drinkers to reduce their drinking, are the most successful therapy for problem drinking.

But far more Americans drink less, not more, than would be most healthful for them. To fail to inform these patients about the benefits of moderate drinking is both counterproductive and dishonest. 2

What is moderate drinking? The US government currently defines moderation for a woman as consuming no more than one drink per day and for men it is drinking no more than two drinks per day. A drink is

Many other countries define moderation at much higher levels of consumption. For example, in the Netherlands moderation is about three drinks per day for both men and women and in France it’s about two and one-half drinks per day for women and over four drinks per day for men. 4 Until recently, the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defined moderation for men as consuming up to four drinks in a day. 5

People need to be aware of some important medical facts about drinking:

The benefits of drinking in moderation begin early in life 10 and they apply to beer, wine, and liquor or distilled spirits (gin, vodka, whiskey, tequila, rum, bourbon, etc.)

In Great Britain health officials recommend moderate drinking. 11 Physicians need to do the same in the United States.

 

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Nothing on this page constitutes medical opinion or advice. For medical diagnosis, opinion, advice or treatment consult a qualified physician.

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