Consumer Reports finds health benefits in coffee, red wine

[Robin Garr]

I realize this isn't big news to most of us, but the surprise is that Consumer Reports has been cautious about taking a firm stand in favor of health benefits from wine. This piece carries the usual warnings about moderation, of course (which isn't a bad thing), but its tone seems more positive than I recall seeing from CR in the past.

CR keeps its material behind a paywall, but I hope this link will work for at least one view from non-subscribers.

The Health Benefits of Coffee and Wine
For many people, the day begins with a cup of coffee and ends with a glass of wine and that can be a good thing

How refreshing to read an article reaffirming that wine consumption can have health benefits.

UK wine-lovers are at present reeling under new guidelines issued by the Chief Medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies, which reduces the "safe" weekly alcohol consumption limit for men to 14 units and maintains it at 14 units for women. (I believe that the UK unit is quite a bit smaller than the US Standard Drink ). And here in France the Public Health ayatollahs keep telling us that "le vin est cancérigène dès le premier verre", although a famous French oncologist has written a book extolling moderate wine consumption.

I believe that Dame Sally's report is flawed (but I would say that, wouldn't I?), particularly in its reasoning for having the same "safe" limits for men and for women. So I really do welcome this article .

And I also start the day with a healthy amount of real coffee .

PS: the UK unit contains 8g of alcohol against 14g for the US Standard drink. That gives an idea of how restrictive is Dame Sally's new guideline for Brits.