Beer : Health and Nutrition

18 Chapter One
critically injure opponents, or the avoidance of prescription medicines because some
people overdose.
Aspirin in regular small doses is a lifesaver. In excess it can be a killer. The same
applies to alcohol. A dear friend of mine takes an aspirin a day to counter the risk of
heart disease. He is roundly applauded for his conscientiousness and it is implicit that he
would never take more than his prescribed ration. The evidence is increasing that a pint
or two of beer per day may be just as ef cacious. Rather fewer people would approve
if he swapped his aspirin for the beer, despite the fact that the beer has nutritional value
absent in the aspirin. And, whereas everyone will naturally assume that he will know
not to get heavy-handed with the aspirin, some will just as automatically assume that
he won’t know when to put down the bottle of booze.
Preventing reasonable-minded folk from drinking to their customary moderation is
just as illogical as banning chocolate because some people pig out on it, or dispensing
with kitchen knives because there is an occasional person predisposed to insert them
into friends and neighbours.
What is moderation?
It is common for those writing on the topic of alcohol and health to refer to ‘moderation’.
What is it exactly?
In the Second Special Report to Congress on Alcohol and Health from the National
Institute on Alcohol and Health in 1974, some de nitions of drinking habits were
given:
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•
•
Moderate occasional. People who drink alcohol only in small amounts at any one
time, never enough to become intoxicated and less frequently than daily
Moderate. Same, except daily
Heavy occasional. People who get drunk occasionally, with periods of abstinence
or moderation
Heavy. People who get drunk regularly and frequently
This is a general classi cation, but it still doesn’t give any precise quanti cation. Most
people would consider moderation to equate to one or two glasses of beer or wine per
day. Even then, what a German consuming steins of lager or a Frenchman enjoying a
bottle of wine daily would consider to be moderate might be considered to be excessive
by those of other nationalities.
The World Health Organization suggests that 60 grams of alcohol per day should be
a maximum. For a beer of 5% alcohol by volume, which equates to approximately 4%
alcohol by weight, this means 1.5 litres, or a little over two and a half pints.