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Editorial
In a recent article in The Listener, wine writer Michael Cooper revealed that researchers in China have discovered that the moderate consumption of alcohol appears to affect C-19 infection rates.
The study Cooper referred to was “written by six researchers based mainly at China’s Shenzhen Medical Health Centre, it was published in Frontiers in Nutrition (January 3, 2022).”
Among the findings of the study, the research revealed that the risk of C-19 infection “was 10-17% lower for red wine drinkers, compared with non-drinkers, regardless of the amount consumed. But the protective effect really kicked in for those who usually drank at least seven glasses a week”
It should be noted, as Cooper points out in his article, that “The study was based on correlating data, rather than causation, so factors other than wine may have swayed the results.”
The positive health effects of moderate consumption of alcohol, but particularly of red wine, have been known for centuries. In more recent times, some cardiologists have been known to advise the enjoyment of a glass or two of wine per day, for those recovering from heart surgery.
In the mid-1970s, an Auckland professor of medicine and then head of the Auckland School of Medicine commented that, “it is a medical fact that those who drink moderately are healthier than teetotallers – but we are not allowed to say it.”
Not allowed by whom, and why?
The medical profession‘s current dogma is that alcohol is a poison and there is no ‘safe’ level of alcohol consumption. This stance has been based entirely on a single study, published in The Lancet three years ago, which has since been shown to be flawed in its analysis.
In their paper in The International Journal of Epidemiology, Sir Nicholas Wald, of University College London, and Chris Frost, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, show that The Lancet analysis was flawed and conclude that, “One need not feel that the only safe alcohol intake is zero.”
“Since 1980, when the government issued its first set of dietary guidelines, the number of Americans who are obese or have type-2 diabetes has more than doubled. Roughly half of all American adults now live with one or more chronic, preventable diseases, and rates of childhood obesity have reached “epidemic” proportions, according to the National Institutes of Health.”
Time Magazine
Yet the health benefits of what has come to be known as The Mediterranean Diet are widely known and have been for decades, if not centuries.
What is the Mediterranean Diet?
“… vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices, are the foundation of the diet. Olive oil is the main source of added fat… Fatty fish, such as mackerel, herring, sardines, albacore tuna and salmon, are rich in omega-3 fatty acids… Wine is often associated with the Mediterranean diet.”
Mayo Clinic
Doctors in New Zealand, even today warn their patients about the dangers of cholesterol in the diet and routinely prescribe statin drugs to control cholesterol levels in the blood. This is despite the many known side-effects of statins and the fact that since 2015, “cholesterol is not considered a nutrient of concern for overconsumption” and that “dietary cholesterol bears little impact on a person’s risk of heart disease”, according to the US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.
There is an abundance of common knowledge about how to reduce our susceptibility to disease and to optimise our overall health. We all know it is best to eat a balanced diet, prepared at home, avoiding processed foods and to eat together with family and others. Enjoy a little wine, especially red wine, with food. Exercise regularly. Get outdoors in the sunshine. Enjoy life and be happy.
Notice that all of these simple truths have been assiduously avoided by governments and the medical profession, globally, in this most recent so-called public health crisis.
Those suggesting that proper nutrition, exposure to sunlight for the production of vitamin D, exercise and a happy disposition, will contribute to enhanced immunity and overall health are regarded as hippies and heretics.
Instead, the only way forward promoted by our government here in New Zealand, has been the involuntary mass medication of the entire populace with a vaccine which to this day, still only has provisional approval, ordered by the Minister of Health, under section 23(4) of the Medicines Act.
Vast billions have been spent by the government on testing, on procuring vaccines and on systematic fearmongering through the daily briefings, unprecedented mass-media advertising campaigns, and through a sycophantic news media.
The damage that fear and stress can do to our health is widely and well known. Not just to mental health but to physical health too. Even the medical profession acknowledges this.
It seems that what has been known for centuries in some cases, has in the space of two short years, become un-known. And it is difficult to see how this could not have been an intentional policy on the part of government and the medical profession.
Meanwhile, anyone suggesting that we can enhance our overall health, boost our ability to ward-off disease and enjoy life, has been labelled a conspiracy theorist. Anyone pointing out that C-19 can be effectively treated at home with the aid of commonplace, well-known and inexpensive medications is a quack or a looney. And anyone with doubts over whether they wish to take this particular novel vaccine, which is in-fact only approved for emergency use, is derided as an anti-vaxer.
Yet the vaxed and boosted are at greater risk, that is more likely, to be hospitalised with C-19 than the unvaccinated. Let that sink in for a moment!
What is clear is that the government’s public health response to C-19 has never been about health. And if it is not about health, then pause to contemplate just what it might actually be about.
As The Narrative continues to disintegrate; as the absence of any real threat from Omicron becomes plain to see, as the ineffectiveness of the vaccine becomes increasingly obvious; as the rates of C-19 infection among the vaccinated outstrip those of the unvaccinated; as the Accident Compensation Corporation is overwhelmed by vaccine injury claims; and as those leading the government’s public health response to C-19, such as Bloomfield and McElnay, begin to flee like rats from a sinking ship, perhaps we would do well to remember some of what we and previous generations have long known.
Eat a balanced diet, prepared at home, avoiding processed foods and eat together with family and others. Enjoy a little wine, especially red wine, with food. Exercise regularly. Get outdoors in the sunshine. Enjoy life and be happy.
DISCLOSURE
Readers should be aware that aside from publishing the In Other News website, the author of this article has worked in the New Zealand wine industry for 30+ years.
Published 12 April 2022
By Colin Ford
In Other News