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The Oldways Table Excerpts: Stories, Lessons, and Recipes from Each Chapter
Chapter 11: Wine
Oldways Sensible Wine Drinking Guidelines
K. Dun Gifford and Sara Baer-Sinnott
Oldways has always included alcoholic beverages—in moderation—as part of a healthy diet. We were the first to put alcohol on an eating pyramid: the 1993 Mediterranean Diet Conference introduced the preliminary Mediterranean diet pyramid, with moderate wine drinking and exercise depicted next to the pyramid. We cemented this is stone with the official Mediterranean diet pyramid in 1994 (with the imprimatur of the Harvard School of Public Health and the World Health Organization). The Asian, Latin American, and Vegetarian pyramids followed in 1995, 1996, and 1997, respectively, all with wine and/or alcohol alongside the pyramid.
In all of this, the words moderation and moderate are integral to even thinking about wine drinking as part of a healthy diet. To make this point clear, and to provide further education materials, we developed the "Sensible Wine Drinking Guidelines." Working with nutrition and social scientists, the guidelines (see page 238) were introduced in 1996. With almost a decade to look back, we believe they are even more relevant in today's not-so-moderate world.
These guidelines were developed by Oldways and R. Curtis Ellison, MD, Boston University School of Medicine; Dwight Health, PhD, Brown University; Stanton Peele, PhD, independent social science researcher; David Pittman, MD, Washington University; Archie Brodsky, Massachusetts Mental Health Center at Harvard Medical School; and Meir Stampfer, MD, DrPH, Harvard School of Public Health.
Statement of Principles
Throughout human history, wine drinking has been an important part of religious rituals, social relationships, family gatherings, and celebrations of the pleasures of living.
• A worldwide medical and nutrition science consensus now exists that sensible, moderate drinking of wine can be part of a healthy diet.
• Moderate, sensible wine and alcohol consumption can contribute to a healthy lifestyle.
• Sensible wine drinking improves social interaction and other of life’s pleasures. Education about sensible wine drinking helps to prevent alcohol abuse.
• Wine has played a positive role in many cultures as a mealtime beverage and as an enhancement to a variety of foods.
• In regions of the world where wine is an integral part of everyday living, alcohol abuse problems are minimal.
• Society has a responsibility to teach all people, especially young people, about sensible drinking.
• Intense international interest in the benefits of wine gives cause to prepare and widely circulate a set of guidelines for sensible wine drinking.
Guidelines for Sensible Wine Drinking
1. Wine should be consumed by healthy adults only in moderation. (Moderate drinking is defined by the U.S. Dietary Guidelines as two 5-ounce glasses of wine a day for mean and one glass for women,)
2. Wine should be consumed as a part of social, family, celebratory, or other occasions, but not as their central focus.
3. Wine should be consumed with food or around mealtimes.
4. Wine drinkers should know the distinction between moderate use and abuse.
5. Parents who drink should drink sensibly, presenting themselves as examples of moderation.
6. Moderate, nondisruptive drinking is socially acceptable, while excessive drinking and any resulting behavior that violates legal or social standards is unacceptable.
7. Wine drinking should follow clear, consistent, and sensible customs that emphasize moderation and discourage binge drinking.
8. The choice of abstinence for any religious or health reason must be respected.
9. Drinking must be avoided in situations where it puts the individual or others at risk. (Drinking is not recommended for people who are at risk for alcohol abuse, for people who take certain medications, for pregnant women, or for people where consumption of wine may put themselves or others at risk.)
10. Wine should be consumed slowly to enhance the taste of food and to add to the enjoyment of everyday living.
These guidelines acknowledge the consumption is not for everyone, and that the legal purchase and possession age in the United States is twenty-one. At the same time, the guidelines urge society and parents to take a more active role in teaching young people about responsible drinking customs so they are prepared to make informed choices.
"It is our opportunity to embrace this national treasure, serve these wines at our family table, holiday celebrations, and religious services, as well as enjoy them while dining out. We are, in this, the American pioneer settling this reclaimed frontier."
- Kerry Downey Romaniello
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