Heavy Drinking Keeps Alcohol Industry Afloat

Most alcohol drinkers in the U.S. regularly are downing much more than the occasional glass of wine with dinner. According to a research team led by Thomas Greenfield, senior scientist at the Alcohol Research Group, Berkeley, CA, more than 80 percent of alcohol consumption in America exceeds the maximum limits recommended in the "Dietary Guidelines for Americans," the cornerstone of federal nutrition policy.The research also reveals that the alcohol industry has grown dependent on hazardous drinking -- more than five drinks per person a day! -- for their large profits, thus refuting the industry's claims that most of its sales are generated from moderate drinking."The industry is using 'moderate drinking' messages to mask the real purpose of its marketing -- to exploit the 'misery market,'" says Jim Mosher, senior policy advisor at the Marin Institute For The Prevention of Alcohol and Other Drug Problems. "If the industry is truly committed to moderate drinking, then it needs to embark on a radical reform of its marketing practices." The Dietary Guideline defines moderate drinking as not exceeding one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men. It warns that increased intake raises serious health risks that range from high blood pressure to cancer. But the guideline also states that "current evidence suggests that moderate drinking is associated with lower risk for coronary heart disease in some individuals," a line that some segments of the alcohol industry has turned into a marketing ploy.John De Luca, president of the international promotional organization The Wine Institute, told reporters last spring that thanks to the guideline, moderate drinking can finally be viewed as part of a healthy diet. Anheuser-Busch CEO August Busch III seconded De Luca's interpretation of the guideline at an annual meeting of Anheuser-Busch shareholders. More recently, De Luca wrote that fortified wines are merely a type of "desert wine, enjoyed moderately and responsibly by the vast majority of consumers." Yet these high-octane products, usually sold cheaply at corner liquor stores, are the same as those commonly imbibed in public from bottles wrapped in paper bags. "It is time to stop promoting high-octane malt liquors to heavy-drinking young people and fortified wine to street alcoholics," says Mosher. "Advertising that targets high school and college students and promotions such as 'happy hours' that encourage binge drinking should not occur."For a copy of the report contact Thomas Greenfield, the Alcohol Research Group: 510-642-5208 or Jim Mosher, Marin Institute For The Prevention of Alcohol and Other Drug Problems, 408-335-1140.