The Muslim Times has a large collection of articles about addiction.

Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times

An article Is Wine Healthy, by Lisa Drayer, a nutritionist, author and health journalist, in CNN on April 21, 2017, started with these two short paragraphs:

Yes, wine may protect our hearts when consumed in moderation — defined as up to one drink per day for women, and up to two drinks per day for men, according to US dietary guidelines. Five ounces of wine is considered one drink.

Benefits of moderate alcohol consumption such as wine include a 30% reduction in the risk of heart attack compared to non-drinkers, a finding that has been repeated over 30 years and in various countries, according to Eric Rimm, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition who has been researching the effects of alcohol and chronic disease for decades at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

To me it seems like an advertisement for wine. Later in the article it specifies that this benefit is from red wine.

The link CNN article provided for American Hearth Association website, says the following about the benefit, while raising the concerns about alcoholism:

If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation. This means an average of one to two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women. (A drink is one 12 oz. beer, 4 oz. of wine, 1.5 oz. of 80-proof spirits, or 1 oz. of 100-proof spirits.)

Drinking more alcohol increases such dangers as alcoholism, high blood pressure, obesity, stroke, breast cancer, suicide and accidents.

Also, it’s not possible to predict in which people alcoholism will become a problem. Given these and other risks, the American Heart Association cautions people NOT to start drinking … if they do not already drink alcohol. Consult your doctor on the benefits and risks of consuming alcohol in moderation.

So, the key issue with alcohol use in moderation is that it may serve as a gateway to alcoholism and possibly to other drug abuse. There is no other passage leading to alcoholism other than moderate use. Allow me to repeat, the one and only gateway that exists to alcohol dependence syndrome or alcoholism, is moderate use for one reason or the other.

The present day Western paradigm fractures the reality about alcohol into two parts, moderate use and excessive use and keeps trying to blame all the problems on excessive use, while applauding the recreational or medicinal value of moderate use. This distortion, reductionism or fracturing of reality, also requires denying any possible relationship between moderate and excessive use.

In the words of Sir Francis Bacon’s advice, please, “Read not to contradict … but to weigh and consider.”

I believe, no discussion about alcohol use is complete without stating that according to WHO more than 208 million are suffering from alcoholism in the world.

No discussion about alcohol use is complete without stating that 18 million in USA are suffering from alcoholism.

No discussion about alcohol is complete without stating that alcohol kills one person every 10 seconds worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

No discussion about alcohol use is complete without stating that in USA, almost half a million people have died in alcohol related traffic accidents, since 1982.[1][2]

No discussion about alcohol use is complete without stating that around 90% of adults in United States consume alcohol, and more than 700,000 of them are treated daily for alcoholism.[3]

No discussion about alcohol use is complete without stating that it has killed more than three million Russians since 1987.[4]

No discussion about alcohol use is complete without stating that in the United States and western Europe 10 to 20% of men and 5 to 10% of women at some point in their lives will meet criteria for alcoholism.[5]

So, in my view no discussion about alcohol is fair and balanced unless it genuinely addresses alcoholism.

Alcoholism, also known as alcohol use disorder (AUD), is a broad term for any drinking of alcohol that results in problems. It was previously divided into two types: alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence. In a medical context, alcoholism is said to exist when two or more of the following conditions is present: a person drinks large amounts over a long time period, has difficulty cutting down, acquiring and drinking alcohol takes up a great deal of time, alcohol is strongly desired, usage results in not fulfilling responsibilities, usage results in social problems, usage results in health problems, usage results in risky situations, withdrawal occurs when stopping, and alcohol tolerance has occurred with use. Risky situations include drinking and driving or having unsafe sex among others. Alcohol use can affect all parts of the body but particularly affects the brain, heart, liver, pancreas, and immune system. This can result in mental illness, Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome, an irregular heart beat, liver failure, and an increase in the risk of cancer, among other diseases. Drinking during pregnancy can cause damage to the baby resulting in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Generally women are more sensitive to alcohol’s harmful physical and mental effects than men.

We now have an extended knowledge of the causal relationship between alcohol consumption and more than 200 health conditions, including the new data on causal relationships between the harmful use of alcohol and the incidence and clinical outcomes of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and pneumonia.

What causes alcoholism?

There are genetic and environmental predispositions. Current evidence indicates that in both men and women, alcoholism is 50-60% genetically determined, leaving 40-50% for environmental influences.[6]

About 40 percent of those who begin drinking alcohol before age 14 develop alcohol dependence, whereas only 10 percent of those who did not begin drinking until 20 years or older developed an alcohol problem in later life.[7] Alcohol abuse during adolescence may lead to long-term changes in the brain which leaves them at increased risk of alcoholism in later years; genetic factors also influence age of onset of alcohol abuse and risk of alcoholism.[8]

The CNN article did acknowledge:

Alcohol consumption increases the risk of cancer. For men, drinking a couple glasses of alcohol a day was associated with 26% increased risk of cancers such as liver, colon and esophagus. Women with a high risk of breast cancer (PDF) should be cautious when consuming wine.

For someone who is at high risk for breast cancer, due to a strong family history or other risk factors, I wouldn’t necessarily tell that woman to stop drinking,” said Rimm, “but I would say if you are at high risk, drink a little less.”

That is well and good. But, it does not do justice to the enormity of alcoholism.

You do not have to be a rocket scientist to realize that there is no alcoholism without condoning alcohol in moderation.

No one with genetic or any other predisposition to alcoholism will ever manifest the disease unless he or she allows himself or herself the very first drink.

An indulgence that devout Muslims, Mormons, Pentecostals, Baptists and Methodists, do not allow themselves.

So can the rest of the world and save the future ‘208 million’ from the hell of alcoholism.

As regards the reduction in heart attacks, one may get the same from red or purple grapes, a little exercise and weight loss.

References