ACSH staffers made cruel fun of the sillier aspects of the new food guidelines on Tuesday, but today we have found something to praise. In Tuesday’s Los Angeles Times, addiction and alcohol expert Stanton Peele, Ph.D., J.D., lauds the addition of alcohol guidelines asserting that moderate consumption — defined as one to two drinks per day — may extend life expectancy and retard cognitive decline. Unfortunately, as Peele points out, medical, public health, and addiction professionals are already attempting to “limit these recommendations out of a fear their impact ‘would likely be to encourage greater daily consumption of alcohol, discourage appropriate caution about using alcohol for health benefits, and open the door for the alcohol industry to misrepresent federal alcohol consumption guidelines to consumers.’ ”
ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, on the other hand, sides with Dr. Peele and welcomes these new guidelines as bringing “a refreshing attitude about alcohol.” ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross reminds us that “too much of anything is no good for you. The problem is that society has a moralistic attitude towards alcohol that goes back centuries, and people mostly associate alcohol with its toxic effects — addiction (alcoholism), liver disease, and hypertension. But moderate alcohol consumption, defined as one to two drinks per day, can actually be good for you.”