A popular belief in the first half of 20th century was that cigarette smoking is healthy. Cigarette smoking was extremely common with the intellectual class, as is evident by acclaimed movie “Good Night, and Good Luck”. But the American society of today by and large abhors smoking. On looking closely at the situation, it could be noticed that the wrong impression of health benefits of smoking did not arise from any medical study, but by some clever advertisement strategies by cigarette companies with ad-lines like “More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette” or making cigarette smoking a sexy and alluring thing.
That now brings me to the topic of drinking alcohol. The alcohol industry has cleverly positioned itself in such a manner that a teetotaler is considered as if he/she has come from a different planet, and this is especially true for teenagers and youths. The last ten years of my student life has firmly convinced me that it is peer-pressure which leads to the start of alcohol in teenagers that slowly becomes a full-blown pursuit. Much of the media reports on alcohol consumption focuses on the positive health impacts of drinking alcohol, though there is a wide scientific literature that unequivocally proves that drinking alcohol, even at low to moderate amounts, can lead to increased rates of suicidal tendencies, breast cancer in women ("Alcohol Dehydrogenase Genetic Polymorphisms, Low-to-Moderate Alcohol Consumption, and Risk of Breast Cancer." Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 31(3)), and brain damage among adolescents (http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/388/iom_fact_sheet.pdf). Instances of medical benefits are often cited by my friends as well as in popular media. A New York Times article comes to mind, in which was mentioned a study that showed that a chemical found in wine, resveratrol, was found to prevent cancer in mouse. On the surface, the article gives an impression that daily consumption of wine would be a potent prevention against cancer. But further analysis throws two surprising things, which were not really highlighted in the article. First, the dose of resveratrol given to the mice in the month long “scientific” study is equivalent to 10 bottles of wine everyday. And mind you, that is in mice, not in human beings. And the second fact, which I found very funny, is that resveratrol in wine comes from grape itself. So even if I am a human being with an average brain, I would rather have grape juice than wine for health benefits. Not only I would get more resveratrol, I also imbibe other benefits of grape juice which are lost during the fermentation process in making wine.
The alcohol industry has gone further than the cigarette industry by manipulating scientific research. Large number of scientific studies (for example "Alcohol Consumption and Hemostatic Factors: Analysis of the Framingham Offspring Cohort." Circulation 104(12) and "Alcohol Consumption and Risk of Lung Cancer: The Framingham Study." J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 94(24)) that show the positive effects of alcohol on health is sponsored either by organizations like Wine Institute or Beer Institute or by persons associated with such organizations.
Another shocking fact is that underage drinkers account for around 20% of the revenue of alcohol industry. The average age for an American for his first alcoholic drink is 11 years for boys and 13 years for girls. Alcohol abuse is linked to two-thirds of sexual assaults and more than half of traffic accidents. Yet the media and the politicians are completely indifferent. The reason is simple: money-power. Alcohol companies spend around $5 billion in alcohol advertising and were one of the most generous donors to various Republican and Democratic candidates in the 2000 election cycle.
That now brings me to the topic of drinking alcohol. The alcohol industry has cleverly positioned itself in such a manner that a teetotaler is considered as if he/she has come from a different planet, and this is especially true for teenagers and youths. The last ten years of my student life has firmly convinced me that it is peer-pressure which leads to the start of alcohol in teenagers that slowly becomes a full-blown pursuit. Much of the media reports on alcohol consumption focuses on the positive health impacts of drinking alcohol, though there is a wide scientific literature that unequivocally proves that drinking alcohol, even at low to moderate amounts, can lead to increased rates of suicidal tendencies, breast cancer in women ("Alcohol Dehydrogenase Genetic Polymorphisms, Low-to-Moderate Alcohol Consumption, and Risk of Breast Cancer." Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 31(3)), and brain damage among adolescents (http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/388/iom_fact_sheet.pdf). Instances of medical benefits are often cited by my friends as well as in popular media. A New York Times article comes to mind, in which was mentioned a study that showed that a chemical found in wine, resveratrol, was found to prevent cancer in mouse. On the surface, the article gives an impression that daily consumption of wine would be a potent prevention against cancer. But further analysis throws two surprising things, which were not really highlighted in the article. First, the dose of resveratrol given to the mice in the month long “scientific” study is equivalent to 10 bottles of wine everyday. And mind you, that is in mice, not in human beings. And the second fact, which I found very funny, is that resveratrol in wine comes from grape itself. So even if I am a human being with an average brain, I would rather have grape juice than wine for health benefits. Not only I would get more resveratrol, I also imbibe other benefits of grape juice which are lost during the fermentation process in making wine.
The alcohol industry has gone further than the cigarette industry by manipulating scientific research. Large number of scientific studies (for example "Alcohol Consumption and Hemostatic Factors: Analysis of the Framingham Offspring Cohort." Circulation 104(12) and "Alcohol Consumption and Risk of Lung Cancer: The Framingham Study." J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 94(24)) that show the positive effects of alcohol on health is sponsored either by organizations like Wine Institute or Beer Institute or by persons associated with such organizations.
Another shocking fact is that underage drinkers account for around 20% of the revenue of alcohol industry. The average age for an American for his first alcoholic drink is 11 years for boys and 13 years for girls. Alcohol abuse is linked to two-thirds of sexual assaults and more than half of traffic accidents. Yet the media and the politicians are completely indifferent. The reason is simple: money-power. Alcohol companies spend around $5 billion in alcohol advertising and were one of the most generous donors to various Republican and Democratic candidates in the 2000 election cycle.
(http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/388/iom_fact_sheet.pdf).
In today’s globally connected world, America is a role model for many developing countries. As such, alcohol consumption is rising at a remarkable pace in India. A decade ago, alcohol consumption was looked down upon; alcohol drinkers used to drink in the privacy of their homes. But these days its very common for youngsters to frequent bars and pubs, and parties where alcohol is served is commonplace. Consuming alcohol is considered cool and hip among yougsters, whereas non-drinking is looked down upon. Alcohol consumption has also been linked to increased domestic violence in rural areas of India. Alcohol is purchased by lower income group people often at the expense of basic necessities. From a recent article (http://www.unhooked.com/sep/thirdworl.htm), “Not surprisingly for a country in which the doctor-patient ratio is 1 to 2310, the health services are focused on providing bare essentials such as immunization. When questions of alcohol consumption do arise, the answer is usually simple: "Don't drink". Religiously, culturally, socially and economically it is the only answer that makes sense. In other words, for an average Indian abstinence in not a matter of choice but an imperative.”
Is the lesson of alcoholism India wants to copy from America? Cannot India rather emulate America’s ideals of discipline, creativity, and hard-work?
In today’s globally connected world, America is a role model for many developing countries. As such, alcohol consumption is rising at a remarkable pace in India. A decade ago, alcohol consumption was looked down upon; alcohol drinkers used to drink in the privacy of their homes. But these days its very common for youngsters to frequent bars and pubs, and parties where alcohol is served is commonplace. Consuming alcohol is considered cool and hip among yougsters, whereas non-drinking is looked down upon. Alcohol consumption has also been linked to increased domestic violence in rural areas of India. Alcohol is purchased by lower income group people often at the expense of basic necessities. From a recent article (http://www.unhooked.com/sep/thirdworl.htm), “Not surprisingly for a country in which the doctor-patient ratio is 1 to 2310, the health services are focused on providing bare essentials such as immunization. When questions of alcohol consumption do arise, the answer is usually simple: "Don't drink". Religiously, culturally, socially and economically it is the only answer that makes sense. In other words, for an average Indian abstinence in not a matter of choice but an imperative.”
Is the lesson of alcoholism India wants to copy from America? Cannot India rather emulate America’s ideals of discipline, creativity, and hard-work?
3 comments:
I think the Indian media also does a great job of mindlessly following the western media. The American media is the largest in the West and also conveniently in English. Any person paying any close attention to what the American media portrays, can easily figure out that the mainstream media is in the hands of lobbyists. On a different note, didn't India, much before it was called India, already go through a period when a lot of importance was attached to alcohol (sura) and then went through the Bhakti movement, which kind of "refined" the society and placed alcohol in its rightful place.
A more funny observation: Even in the US, or the western world, the costliest drinks are something called "cocktails", which tend to have a high concentration of real fruit juices. So as you pointed out, why not just have fruit juice, which for some inexplicable reason, does not need "developing a taste" before one can like it.
Sandip,
I would agree with your article. Also, "developing a taste" is what is expected from a youth these days.
Amit and Pradeep,
I completely agree with you. I have often been told that appreciating beer takes an effort. To which my refrain is that there are zillion other good things in life I would rather develop a taste for.
As for importance attached to alcohol, I do agree that there was a time when alcohol was considered important in Indian society. But the history of Hinduism is long in India, and it had its share of up and down. But by and large, the society of India, had abhored the concept of drinking.
P.S.- Amit, are you the Amit of "Amit Saha" fame?
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