NIAAA's 'Rethinking Drinking'

I'm very proud today to see one of my formative professors, Dr Fulton Crews, quoted extensively in a USAToday article on a new, web-based alcohol awareness initiative, "Rethinking Drinking," from NIH's National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Division of Treatment and Recovery Research.

While many associate heavy drinking with liver problems, it can also increase the risk for heart disease, sleep disorders, depression, stroke and stomach bleeding. Consumed during pregnancy, it can cause fetal brain damage, says Fulton Crews, director of the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Medicine. It's also linked to cancer.

"We know if you're a heavy drinker but not alcohol dependent, your risk of oral cavity cancer and also breast cancer are increased," Crews says.

What I like about this information site is that it's message is not, "drinking is evil and a scourge on the Earth." Rather it addresses "risk reduction" and the reality the alcohol consumption is a life-enhancing social behavior among the majority of Americans by providing resources for drinking responsibly, very similar to our mission statement for The Friday Fermentable, our near-weekly feature on wine and beer.

Among these sections include, "Is your 'lite' beer light in alcohol?," "The Cocktail Content Calculator," and "How many glasses are in a bottle of wine?" The site also has resources for objective determination of at-risk drinking relative to alcoholism.

For more information, visit Rethinking Drinking at NIAAA. Nice job, folks.