Your Health

Is it safe to have an alcoholic drink before dinner?

W. Gifford-Jones MD & Diana Gifford-Jones

March 9, 2023

BY W. GIFFORD- JONES MD & DIANA GIFFORD-JONES

No one in our family has ever needed to cling to a telephone pole on the way home after drinking too much alcohol. Rather, we have long held that moderate amounts of alcohol can be healthy, but are we right? Now, a new Canadian report claims more than one or two drinks a week increases the risk of health problems, such as heart disease, stroke and cancer.

Professor Dan Malleck of Brock University, who specializes in alcohol regulation, and who has written several books on this topic, is sceptical of these generalized guidelines. He says they remind him of the Temperance Movement of long ago. Moreover, he states, the study used relative rather than absolute risk. This means that just three ounces and a half of alcohol shockingly increase the risk of larynx cancer by nearly 100 per cent! This cancer is primarily related to the smoking of tobacco.

The possibility of developing cancer from alcohol is real. Some studies do show an increase in a variety of malignancies. So, if you do not consume alcohol, do not start. Perhaps this decision will prolong your life.

The attempt to extend your life by the abstinence of alcohol is a nebulous affair. For instance, if you say “no” to a glass of red wine before dinner, would this alone increase your longevity? Unlikely.

It’s been said, “Alcohol is for the elderly what milk is for the young.”

Getting older is hazardous but alcohol can mediate it, particularly for the cardiovascular system where blood flow to the heart and other organs decreases with age. Alcohol dilates blood vessels, decreasing the risk of coronary attack. It also increases good cholesterol. Possibly even more vital, it makes tiny blood platelets more slippery, less likely to stick together causing a fatal coronary attack.

What about the psychological effects of alcohol? As a surgeon, I often used a routine post-operative order, which sometimes surprised nurses. They would counter, “But it’s never been done before!” The order allowed patients who typically enjoyed an alcoholic pre-dinner drink at home, to enjoy one on the second postoperative surgical day, normally the most difficult day of recovery.

It also reassured patients that they were not going to die, but were getting better.

Why do we accept the potential risk of partaking one or two ounces of alcohol daily? Is it because it relieves the chronic pain of an aging body more effectively than drugs, or because it relaxes the soul after an intense day of work. Not recommendations for others, but the plain facts for us.

Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of Britain, and a noted heavy drinker, made an amusing pronouncement on this issue. He stated, “I’ve taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.” He started his alcohol routine early in the morning and continued during the day. He was hardly the poster boy for the Temperance Union. But he lived to 90 years of age with his mental facility intact.

Past studies such as France’s National Institute of Health and Scientific Research reported an interesting finding. Elderly people who drank moderate amounts of wine were less likely to suffer from senility and Alzheimer’s disease.

We also know that Hippocrates, “the father of medicine”, supported the use of alcohol. Although we are not religious experts, we are told that Jesus transforms water into wine!

One of us now in the 100th year of life, hell will freeze over before this doctor dispenses with a pre-dinner cocktail. Does anyone lay blame?

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Written By W. Gifford-Jones MD & Diana Gifford-Jones

Dr. W. Gifford-Jones, MD is a graduate of the University of Toronto and the Harvard Medical School. He trained in general surgery at Strong Memorial Hospital, University of Rochester, Montreal General Hospital, McGill University and in Gynecology at Harvard. His storied medical career began as a general practitioner, ship’s surgeon, and hotel doctor. For more than 40 years, he specialized in gynecology, devoting his practice to the formative issues of women’s health. In 1975, he launched his weekly medical column that has been published by national and local Canadian and U.S. newspapers. Today, the readership remains over seven million. His advice contains a solid dose of common sense and he never sits on the fence with controversial issues. He is the author of nine books including, “The Healthy Barmaid”, his autobiography “You’re Going To Do What?”, “What I Learned as a Medical Journalist”, and “90+ How I Got There!” Many years ago, he was successful in a fight to legalize heroin to help ease the pain of terminal cancer patients. His foundation at that time donated $500,000 to establish the Gifford-Jones Professorship in Pain Control and Palliative Care at the University of Toronto Medical School. At 93 years of age he rappelled from the top of Toronto’s City Hall (30 stories) to raise funds for children with a life-threatening disease through the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Diana Gifford-Jones, the daughter of W. Gifford-Jones, MD, Diana has extensive global experience in health and healthcare policy. Diana is Special Advisor with The Aga Khan University, which operates 2 quaternary care hospitals and numerous secondary hospitals, medical centres, pharmacies, and laboratories in South Asia and Africa. She worked for ten years in the Human Development sectors at the World Bank, including health policy and economics, nutrition, and population health. For over a decade at The Conference Board of Canada, she managed four health-related executive networks, including the Roundtable on Socio-Economic Determinants of Health, the Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management, the Canadian Centre for Environmental Health, and the Centre for Health System Design and Management. Her master’s degree in public policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government included coursework at Harvard Medical School. She is also a graduate of Wellesley College. She has extensive experience with Canadian universities, including at Carleton University, where she was the Executive Director of the Global Academy. She lived and worked in Japan for four years and speaks Japanese fluently. Diana has the designation as a certified Chartered Director from The Directors College, a joint venture of The Conference Board of Canada and McMaster University. She has recently published a book on the natural health philosophy of W. Gifford-Jones, called No Nonsense Health – Naturally!

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