Vintage Deception:
The Wine Institute's Manipulation of Scientific
Research to Promote Wine Consumption Executive Summary
Under the guise of
"education," the Wine Institute has launched a publicity campaign to sell more
wine. The wine industry's pronouncements about scientific findings of the benefits of
moderate alcohol consumption have saturated the media and entered the public
consciousness. This "one size fits all" propaganda subverts public health policy
and misleads the public about the advantages of drinking.
The wine industry's message overstates the case for
wine and spreads potentially dangerous advice that could lead to higher alcohol
consumption, with correspondingly higher levels of alcohol problems. Although moderate
alcohol consumption has been associated with a reduced risk for heart disease for some
people, alcohol does not benefit all people and certain individuals should avoid it
altogether.
An analysis of Wine Institute publications, including
recent Newsflashes, Research News Bulletins, Special Media Advisories, and its website,
found that the Institute has:
- made exaggerated claims about the health benefits of
alcohol and wine;
- suggested human health benefits from wine on the basis
of an unpublished laboratory study;
- regularly omitted the cautions and qualifications made
by researchers whose studies it cites;
- and failed completely to mention the health risks of
alcohol consumption.
A few examples of the Wine Institute's manipulation of
research findings:
- One chart on the Institute's website
(www.wineinstitute.org) asserts that studies have found moderate alcohol consumption may
have beneficial effects on the common cold, kidney stones, Parkinson's disease,
Alzheimer's disease, cognition and memory, pancreatic cancer, and many other conditions.
The evidence for those benefits is preliminary, inconclusive, and contradicted by other
research, yet the chart portrays wine as a virtual panacea. Neither the chart nor the
website make any mention of wine's potential addictiveness or any of the serious and
widespread health and safety problems linked to moderate or heavy drinking.
- A January 1997 Wine Institute Newsflash headline boasts
that resveratrol in wine acts as an anti-cancer agent. Although it identified the study as
preliminary, the release ignored critical facts that temper the implications of the
research. It failed to disclose that the mice in the study consumed resveratrol equivalent
to the amount found in human consumption of five gallons of wine per day. It ignored the
fact that scientists have found no evidence that the resveratrol could be absorbed into
the human bloodstream through food or wine consumption. Other prominent researchers were
unable to detect resveratrol in human bloodstreams, even after giving subjects "huge
amounts of red wine" high in the compound. Wine Institute coverage of the study also
omitted the authors' express reservations about the adverse effects of long-term alcohol
consumption and their specific recommendation of foods and non-alcoholic beverages derived
from grapes as preferable dietary sources of resveratrol.
- In May 1997, the same month that an editorial in the
scientific journal Epidemiology counseled women to avoid alcohol to reduce their breast
cancer risk, the Wine Institute issued a Special Media Advisory suggesting that moderate
wine consumption is not associated with increased risk of breast cancer. The advisory
failed to report that the studies did not rule out the possibility of breast cancer risk
at moderate levels of alcohol consumption or that they contradicted several other research
findings. The Media Advisory ignored other factors that could have accounted for the
finding of lower risk of breast cancer among moderate wine consumers. The report even
excluded the opinion of the authors of one of the studies it cited. Those authors
concluded that their study supports "the hypothesis that alcohol intake is a cause of
breast cancer. A lifetime average of even one drink per day appears to be associated with
a modest increase in risk." The American Cancer Society and government health
agencies have cautioned women, especially those with a family history of breast cancer, to
limit their alcohol consumption.
Health professionals, government officials,
journalists, and the public should scrutinize the scientific research and the Wine
Institute's commercial propaganda with great care. Journalists should be skeptical of Wine
Institute reports, actively seek balance on issues raised by industry pronouncements, and
provide additional information on problems related to alcohol consumption. The Institute
should not be considered a reliable source of public health advice for the nation.
This report was authored by Laura Steinhardt and
George Hacker. Ms. Steinhardt, a Yale undergraduate, interned at the Center for Science in
the Public Interest in the summer of 1997. George Hacker directs the Alcohol Policies
Project at CSPI.
The full Vintage Deception report is available for
$5.00 plus $3.50 s/h. Contact CSPI's Alcohol
Policies Project, or call 202/332-9110, ext. 385, or mail $8.50 to: CSPI -- Alcohol
Policies, 1875 Connecticut Ave. N.W. Suite 300, Washington, DC 20009.
October 2, 1997 |
