Water is bad, wine makes you sing. The return of Lollo gaffeur

Minister Francesco Lollobrigida at the General States of Wine says that in Europe there is an attempt to "demonize wine" and that even "the abuse of water can lead to death". Free to criticize Brussels, but anti-science is not a good argument

Who says that wine is bad for you? they are all hospital people. I drank a lot of it and it didn't hurt me

water does harm, wine makes you sing.

Nanni Svampa and popular song are forgiven for everything: from the politically incorrect camaraderie to a good dose of anti-scientific nonsense. Especially since, from the Alpine troops ( I drank it all and it didn't hurt me ) on down, it's all a gluttony against water " that ruins bridges / even the pure water from the springs / the thing that really matters to us / is the wine that keeps the seas and mountains going ". However, if the one saying these nonsense is a minister of the Republic, things get a little complicated.

The Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry Francesco Lollobrigida at the General States of Wine – a meeting between government representatives, European institutions and stakeholders – said he wanted to "oppose the attempt to demonize wine" underway in Brussels which, he claims, is instead "an element that, if not abused, not only does not cause damage to the body, but certainly in a balanced diet produces health" . And then he launched into a truly daring parallel: "even the abuse of water can lead to death" .

It is not the first time that Lollobrigida has exercised on the subject. "They should include on the label that wine is harmful to the health of those who do not drink it", she said in 2023, from the Roman stage of the IX Economic Conference Agriculture in the Center . And again, again in 2023, during a press briefing on the sidelines of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels she presented the risky parallel according to which "even the abuse of water can cause problems for humans and even lead to death in exasperated quantities".

At the heart of Minister Lollobrigida's latest tirade ( here is the full version) is the European Commission's proposal to impose health warnings on the labels of alcoholic beverages (including wine), regarding the potential health risks associated with ethanol consumption. A little less, perhaps, than the feared "demonization of wine"? There is little to discuss about the healthiness of the product. Several scientific studies demonstrate how polyphenols, especially those contained in red wine, have beneficial effects on health. However, since wine contains only a few milligrams per liter and these are often degraded by our body, their benefit is almost nil : according to a study published in 2016 in the American Society for Nutrition , to achieve the cardioprotective effect of resveratrol, for example, we would have to drink about 2,000 liters of red wine, 16 thousand glasses a day. Not exactly the modest quantities that Lollobrigida suggests. While ethanol, also contained in wine, has side effects proven by all scientific literature: according to the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) and the Italian Association for Cancer Research , ethanol is the cause of approximately 60 different types of pathological conditions and damage to health . According to the guidelines reported by the ISS in collaboration with the World Health Organization, "it is not possible to identify quantities of alcohol consumption that are recommended or 'safe' for health" but "a daily quantity of alcohol consumed during main meals (not between meals) that should not exceed 20-40 grams for men and 10-20 grams for women should be considered low risk". In short, our body is able to tolerate ethanol without evident damage, as long as the recommended daily Alcohol Units (AU) are not exceeded. A glass of wine (125 ml) contains 12 g of ethanol and corresponds to 1 AU

Of course, as the minister also says in another passage of his speech at the General States of Wine, there are also social and cultural reasons behind the consumption of wine, which in Italy represents a thousand-year-old tradition. An informed consumer can put them on the scales together with health reasons, and make a free choice. Then there is a whole series of reasons why the health warnings proposed by Brussels can be questioned. But using an anti-scientific comparison like the one chosen by Lollobrigida is an argument that – you will forgive me – is full of holes.