Thirteen years after airing the controversial “French Paradox” segment on “60 Minutes,” the alcohol-health debate continues, as evidenced by a paper delivered by Dr. Charles Lieber at the European Alcohol Policy Conference in Warsaw, Poland, June 16-19, 2004.

Lieber’s paper was titled “Alcohol and health:…  A drink a day won’t keep the doctor away.” Dr. Charles Lieber is recognized as an expert on the toxicology of alcohol and related hepatic as well as nutritional disorders. He is Professor of Medicine and Pathology at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.

According to Lieber, “A drink a day does not keep the doctor away. This is what we should be telling patients who ask if they should start having a drink every day because they heard it lowers the risk of heart attack or stroke.

“So far, the claims of health benefits from moderate drinking come from epidemiological studies, some of which involved the use of so little alcohol that other factors (such as high income and healthy lifestyles) must have been responsible for the alleged health benefit. And the results of the studies have not been consistently corroborated.

“In short, an evidence-based approach to health care does not support advising patients to start drinking for therapeutic purposes, especially when they already have effective, evidence-based ways to lower cardiovascular risk….  Even if moderate drinking turns out to be beneficial in some people, the risk of developing alcohol abuse outweighs any potential cardiovascular benefits.”

Illinois Church Action on Alcohol & Addiction Problems,…  Volume 67, No. 3, September 2004
(Reprinted from Monday Morning Report, Volume 28, No. 16, August 30, 2004)