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France on Monday launched a national campaign to encourage French wine lovers to reduce their consumption after a study showed that a quarter of them over-consumed. But many still think that "a good meal can not be enjoyed without a good wine".
According to the World Health Organization, France has one of the highest alcohol consumption rates in Europe, behind Estonia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic , behind her. This culture of consumption – largely attributed to wine, which accounts for 58% of total alcohol consumption in France – prompted Monday the public health agency and the National Cancer Institute (INCa) to launch a national campaign containing recommendations for maximum daily consumption of alcohol. .
"For your health, alcohol should be limited to a maximum of two glbades a day, and not every day either," they wrote, a limit that 24% of French adults regularly exceed. Alcohol is the second leading cause of avoidable death in France after smoking, killing nearly 41,000 people each year.
"It's about 10.5 million adults who drink too much. In any case, they drink in proportions that increase the risks to their health, including cancer, high blood pressure, cerebral hemorrhage and cardiovascular diseases, "said Viet Nguyen-Thanh, head of the additional unit of the agency of public health, at FRANCE 24.
Previously, the daily limit was two glbades a day for women and three glbades a day for men.
Nguyen-Thanh said that France's ancestral wine culture was partly to blame.
"It's part of French history. The fact that France is a wine producer certainly played a role with regard to the French and their relationship with wine. "
France's historical relationship with alcohol is complex. The first campaign to bring the French to reduce their consumption of alcohol was orchestrated by the Prime Minister of the time, Pierre Mendes France, in the mid-fifties. This campaign encouraged the French to "drink less than one liter of alcohol per meal".
In 1956, France also banned the consumption of alcohol by children under 14 in school canteens. Previously, schoolchildren were allowed to drink half a liter of wine, cider or beer with their meals. It was not until 1981 that France introduced a total ban on alcohol in its schools.
"Swim in the wine"
Caroline, a 40-year-old Parisian who did not want to give her real name, said she had grown up "literally swimming in wine".
"In my family, our meals together have always been extremely important and there has always been wine on the table."
Like many French people, she started tasting wine around the age of 12, but she did not really taste this wine before the age of 20. The legal age for drinking in France is 18 years old.
"Wine is so much part of culture," she said. "I remember, for example, that we were going to visit wine producers during our family holidays. It was one thing, and we would always have good bottles of wine at home. "
Caroline, who now has three children, said that in recent years she had been drinking every day.
"A good meal simply can not be enjoyed without a good wine," she said. Since the beginning of the year, however, she has limited her daily consumption to about two glbades of wine, instead of a half bottle.
"I've tried to set alcohol-free days on Mondays and Tuesdays, but when Monday comes and you're tired of your work day, after taking the kids back to school, and it's time to have dinner like that of merit this glbad. It's a way for me to relax. "
"Give France a break"
The French Minister of Agriculture, Didier Guillaume, launched a flood of critics at the beginning of the year saying that wine "is not like other spirits" and that it is rare that it causes consumption excessive alcohol among French youth.
"Alcohol addiction is a real problem, especially among young people who consume excessively, etc.," said Guillaume, attributing the problem rather to strong alcohol and mixers.
"This is a real problem, but to my knowledge, I have never seen – unfortunately, perhaps – a young person coming out of a drunken nightclub because he drank Côtes-du-Rhône, Crozes -Hermitage or Costières-de-Nîmes. "
Similarly, French President Emmanuel Macron was found in hot water after telling reporters last year that "personally, I drink wine at lunch and dinner". He also announced that he was not considering toughening the alcohol advertising laws during his presidency, saying that those who demanded it should "give France a break".
As part of the national campaign to reduce alcohol consumption, the public health agency has developed an online "Alcometer" that allows users to calculate the potential risks badociated with their individual consumption of alcohol.
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