Health Effects of Wine - What Is Moderate Consumption?

What Is Moderate Consumption?

See also: Recommended maximum intake of alcoholic beverages

Nearly all research into the positive medical benefits of wine consumptions make a distinction between moderate consumption, heavy and binge drinking. What constitutes a moderate, healthy level of consumption will vary by individual according to age, gender, genetics, weight and body stature as well as the situation-i.e. is food being consumed as well, are any other drugs currently in the individual's system, etc. Women, in general, tend to absorb alcohol quicker than men due to their lower body water content and difference in levels of stomach enzyme so their moderate levels of consumption tend to be lower than a male of equal age and weight. Some doctors define "moderate consumption" as one 5-US-fluid-ounce (150 ml) glass of wine per day for women and two glasses per day for men.

The view of consuming wine in moderation has a history almost as long as that of wine's role in medicine. The Greek poet Eubulus believed that three bowls (kylix) were the ideal amount of wine to consume. The number of three bowls for moderation is a common theme throughout Greek writing; today the standard 750 mL wine bottle contains roughly the amount of three Kylix cups (250 ml or 8 fl oz each). In his circa 375 BC play Semele or Dionysus, Eubulus has Dionysus say:

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Three bowls do I mix for the temperate: one to health, which they empty first, the second to love and pleasure, the third to sleep. When this bowl is drunk up, wise guests go home. The fourth bowl is ours no longer, but belongs to violence; the fifth to uproar, the sixth to drunken revel, the seventh to black eyes, the eighth is the policeman's, the ninth belong to biliousness, and the tenth to madness and hurling the furniture.

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