We all know that alcohol is unhealthy no matter how little is consumed. Non-alcoholic wine has all the benefits of wine, but none of the drawbacks: it prevents heart disease, helps prevent cholesterol, increases Omega 3 levels, prevents osteoarthritis, reduces the risk of cancer. However, it has no negative effect on your heart (nor on your brain or liver) and is hardly fattening. And the same goes for 0.0 beer or de-alcoholised distillates.
The government wants to avoid unnecessary deaths and that is why the Interterritorial Health Council has approved the Cardiovascular Health Strategy (ESCAV in Spanish). Its aim is to bring about a change in the cardiovascular health of the population and to promote the adoption of healthy lifestyle habits. Its ultimate aim is to reduce the incidence of these diseases, the leading cause of death in Spain.
How to achieve this: the alcohol-free menu
Their plan consists of collaborating with catering establishments to promote the Mediterranean diet as a model of healthy eating. To this end, they decided not to include alcohol on the daily menu: it would remain on the menu, but wine and beer would not be included in the fixed-price menu that bars and restaurants offer at lunchtime from Monday to Friday. A healthy option would be to include non-alcoholic wine and non-alcoholic beer on the menu.
However, this news has not been greeted with the jubilation it should have been, as the alcoholic beverage industry loses out on many of the benefits of the cardiovascular health strategy. That is why it has responded radically to the government’s plans. Its weight is so great that, despite the fact that drinking alcohol costs lives, the government has had to backtrack and deny that it will take soft drinks off the lunchtime menu.
A global action
There should be no controversy about the effects of alcohol. It is not something that happens only in Spain, in the prestigious scientific journal The Lancet there are already several articles about the weight of the alcohol industry in governments and the effect of alcohol consumption on global health. It is a strategy that seems necessary to us, and it is recommended by the WHO. We also know the surprising (and wonderful) effects of not drinking alcohol.
The Health Strategy goes beyond alcohol consumption. In its 132 pages, it addresses many aspects of cardiovascular health. It gathers enough scientific evidence to affirm that alcohol consumption is not harmless even in small doses, another of the false myths that are always brought up when alcohol consumption is discussed.
Another risk factor is tobacco. The first, according to the Health Ministry. And that is why the Ministry is finalising a new comprehensive anti-smoking plan to extend smoke-free zones to outdoor spaces such as terraces. Its aim is that by 2040 no more than 10% of the population in Spain will smoke.
