Question: I have a question after reading your articles about not drinking wine.
I am a Christian. I am often faced with having to confront the people around me who are professing Christians and who are also social drinkers. I thank God for your article as now I know I can share with them specifically from the Bible why they should abstain from wine.
However, there are medical reports from many doctors who claim that a habitual glass of red wine (preferably daily intake) is good for your health, i.e. blood circulation, prolonging life, prevention of cancer etc. Do you know if there is any basis in these medical professional’s arguments and if there are counter arguments from other reputable medical sources? The ‘social drinking’ Christians now use the medical doctors to claim that drinking is healthy for you and also use the ‘moderation’ theology to ‘back up’ their claims to drinking.
Please help!
Thank you!
God bless,
Follow up to a short answer given on the original question.
I didn’t know alcohol can affect the sperm in males and effect the future generation! Prayerfully, that will get some of them to think again before they down the next glass of red wine!
Answer: Here is a quote from a film Alcohol and Human Physiology I have used in the public school library of films. (Synopsis) “The film begins with an illustration of the various aspects of social life that habitually entail the use of alcohol. ‘Happy hours’ are contrasted with devastating statistics and images of the abuse of alcohol, a mind-altering toxic drug.
“A physician then gives the facts of how alcohol affects the body. Beginning with the mouth, he reviews the major organs and body systems, and points out the damaging results of drinking. He discusses the ill-effects of alcohol on the digestive, circulatory, muscular, skeletal, urogenital, and nervous systems.
“The film uses real medical pictures, x-rays, microscopic images, and organs removed in autopsies to create a superbly convincing case against alcohol. The physician’s narration and demonstration of alcohol-induced damages to the body are intertwined with dramatic testimonials from six recovering alcoholics; they briefly recount the particular physiological damages that resulted from their alcohol abuse-intestinal ulcer, fatty liver, pancreatitis, birth defects, muscular atrophy, and blackouts.
“In the conclusion, the film warns that psychosis is more frequent among alcohol abusers than among users of any other drug. Brain cells, once destroyed by alcohol, will never grow back again. Close to fifty-percent of the admissions to state mental hospitals and one-third of all admissions to hospitals are alcohol-related.
Ultimately, chronic alcohol abuse may lead to death.” (Medical authenticity by Basil Clyman MD Veterans Administration Medical Center Sepulveda, California; Michael Meyers MD Coldwater Canyon Hospital North Hollywood, California; Jeffrey Miller MD Memorial Hospital Glendale, California; Frank Mohaupt MD San Pedro Peninsula Hospital San Pedro, California; Theodore Williams MD Los Angeles County Commission on Alcoholism.)
Can Alcohol Affect Male Fertility – The Truth Revealed
By Gary Toh
…Here’s how alcohol actually affects male fertility:-
1. Alcoholism (excessive consumption of alcohol) raises the estrogen level in men. This will in turn interfere with his hormones and sperm development. Why? Because alcohol is a toxin that tends to kill sperm generating cells in men. Worse still, chronic alcoholism can cause atrophy in the testicles, gynecomastia and the lack of sexual interest.
2. Excessive alcohol consumption causes a disorder in the gonads resulting in changes in the structure of the testicles and decline in the T serum level. A drop in the is T serum level can cause male infertility.
3. The toxicity of excessive alcohol can reduce sperm density or sperm count. Typically the volume of a single ejaculate is 3 milliliters (sometimes reaching six milliliter per ejaculate) with 120 million sperm cells per ml. But alcohol can cause a drastic reduction in these figures. In addition, alcohol can result in abnormalities in sperm size, shape and the sperm tail. Sperm motility can also be affected negatively.
4. Excessive alcohol alters the regular oval head and a straight tail of the healthy sperm cell. This change in sperm shape can seriously compromise the viability of the spermatozoa. Also, chronic alcoholism damages the sperm morphology that often has irreversible effects.
(Note: Drinking too much alcohol can also cause impotence and liver damage)
If in doubt, do a semen analysis test to determine the state of your fertility. Sperms normally take about three months to develop. So if you want to have your sperm analyzed, you must abstain from sexual activity during this period to get a clearer and more reliable reading regarding the health and the condition of the sperm that is produced.
You don’t always have to see a Urologist if you want to do semen analysis. You can save yourself a lot of money by using a laboatory technician instead. Another option is to use a semen analysis test kit which can do the job for you in the privacy of your home. You can get a good, basic information about the health of your semen and sperm.
Just like in men, alcoholism also can also affect the reproductive health of mothers too. Some of the causes are: ovarian dysfunction, amenorrhea, anovulation, luteal phase defect, hyperprolactinemia etc.
To conclude, if you are serious about getting a baby, then curbing your drinking habit is an important consideration.
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| “For years, nutritionists were baffled by what is known as the French paradox. How could a country eat so much creamy brie and still have such low rates of heart disease?“The answer now famously lies in the red wine that the French favor. It’s loaded with substances that are good for the blood vessels.
“Now it turns out that many of the health benefits of red wine can be achieved with a teetotaler’s special: grape juice. “Essentially red wine without the alcohol, grape juice doesn’t just solve the French paradox. It may help you solve paradoxes, puzzles, riddles and all manner of brainteasers. That’s because the benefits of grape juice and red wine hit the brain as well as the heart. “The brain benefits of grape juice come from its flavonoids, natural plant chemicals that act as antioxidants. Antioxidants mop up the harmful free radicals generated when cells burn oxygen for energy and their activity seems to help the brain in two ways. “First, the very same general antioxidant activity that protects the heart also protects the brain, since the brain – a metabolic furnace that is the body’s biggest user of oxygen – depends on a constant blood flow. Grape juice flavonoids help keep arteries clear by reducing the production of clotting factors while increasing the production of nitric oxide, a substance that keeps arteries open. “Flavonoids may also increase the production of “good” HDL cholesterol and lessen the risk of clogged arteries posed by “bad” LDL cholesterol. And a recent preliminary study hints that daily glasses of grape juice may even help matters further by reducing blood pressure. “Current research, still in the early stages, suggests that the antioxidants in grape juice may also protect brain cells directly. For example, experiments at Tufts University suggest grape juice improve the strength, memory and coordination of laboratory rats. “The flavonoids that give grapes their health benefits also give them their color. So research of antioxidant properties has focused on Concord grape juice, made from dark purple Concord grapes. “Concord grape juice turns out to be an even more potent source of antioxidants than the grapes alone because most of the fabulous flavonoids are in the skin and seeds of grapes. In the process of making red juice or wine, the skin and the seeds stay mixed with the flesh for an extended period of time, allowing the flavonoids to seep into the juice. Since many people don’t eat the seeds of grapes, they miss out on many flavonoids even when they pop grapes straight from the vine. “Concord grape juice is particularly rich in proanthocyanidins, one of the heart-healthiest of types of flavonoids. It’s got more of them than any other beverage tested by the Department of Agriculture – even more than red wine and more than twice the amount found in cranberry juice. “It also stacks up well against whole fruits. An eight-ounce serving of grapes has about the same amount of proanthocyanidins as a half cup serving of blueberries, about 50 percent more than a Fuji apple and about twice as much as a half cup of green or red grapes. “It’s easy to work grape juice into your diet, says registered dietician Ruth Carey. She suggests that one or two servings of juice make up part of your recommended daily five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables. “Since grape juice contains sugar, you shouldn’t drink it as a replacement for water, but rather as a replacement for sodas and flavored beverages, or as a complement to meals. A grape juice spritzer, made by mixing juice with seltzer, makes a refreshing treat. “You’ll get a glassful of heart and brain benefits from either French red wine or American Concord grape juice. Grape juice does have one advantage, though: kids can drink it, too.” (The Secret Life of Grape Juice, By Lauren Aaronson) |
Solomon’s advice and St. Paul’s advice is good for us today:
In, Proverbs 23:31 and 32 it commands, “Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it swirls around smoothly; at the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper.”
Now the argument, Paul told Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach’s sake. Yes, Paul told Timothy, “Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your often infirmities.” 1 Timothy 5:23
This text clearly implies that Timothy did not drink any wine before this time. The recommendation by Paul was strictly medicinal, so to quote the advice of Paul to Timothy to justify drinking is to distort the intent of the passage! Again because the word “wine” is used many people jump to the conclusion it is fermented, when in fact Paul and the rest of Scripture have already warned against the use of fermented wine.
Then you ask, “Was unfermented wine ever used as a medicine?” Yes, Athenaeus states, “Let him take sweet wine, either mixed with water or warmed, especially that kind called protropos (juice coming from the grapes before they are pressed), as being good for the stomach.”(Athenaeus, Banquet 2:24).
I trust this helps you answer your questions.
Thanks,
Gary T. Panell
Write me at [email protected]
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