When the USDA released its
new Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2000
in May, a slight change was made to the
1995 guidelines. The 1995 text read as
follows:
"Current evidence
suggests that moderate drinking is
associated with a lower risk for coronary
heart disease in some individuals."
The 2000 guidelines have
added an age specific corollary:
"Drinking in moderation
may lower risk for coronary heart
disease, mainly among men over age
45 and women over age 55...Moderate
consumption provides little, if any,
health benefit for younger people.
Risk of alcohol abuse increases when
drinking starts at an early age…"
So, why the change? In a
recent Chicago Tribune article, Dr. Zorba
Paster, clinical professor in the department
of family medicine at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, explained, "Age
is an issue because heart disease is more
of a risk at certain, i.e., older, ages…The
evidence of cardiac benefit appears to
be for middle-aged men and women, but
not for younger people."
As discussed in For
the Stomach’s Stake ancient wise
types have expounded on wine and health
for thousands of years. For what it’s
worth, a variation on the USDA’s
new "drinking age" guidelines
may be found in the Laws of Plato (427
BC – 347 BC)
"Shall we not pass
a law that, in the first place, no
children under eighteen may touch
wine at all, teaching that it is wrong
to pour fire upon fire either in body
or in soul...and thus guarding against
the excitable disposition of the young?
And next, we shall rule that the young
man under thirty may take wine in
moderation, but that he must entirely
abstain from intoxication and heavy
drinking. But when a man has reached
the age of forty, he may join in the
convivial gatherings and invoke Dionysus,
above all other gods, inviting his
presence at the rite (which is also
the recreation) of the elders, which
he bestowed on mankind as a medicine
potent against the crabbedness of
Old Age, that thereby we men may renew
our youth, and that, through forgetfulness
of care, the temper of our souls may
lose its hardness and become softer
and more ductile..." Plato, Laws
666b
So, what do other countries
recommend? I took a peek at the published
dietary guidelines of 20 other countries
from Australia to the UK, and the clear
and overriding alcohol consumption theme,
without reference to specific age, was
moderation, moderation, moderation. And,
buried in the lines of the same, homogenous,
and clearly universal language were a
few other lifestyle gems we should all
take to heart:
Japan (1985)
Happy eating makes for happy family
life; sit down and eat together and
talk; treasure family taste and home
cooking.
Korea (1986)
Keep harmony between diet and daily
life.
Enjoy meals.
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