Announcing the Wine + Health podcast
Drinks Insider has a spinoff!
Two new Drinks Insider episodes dropped today. The first is an interview with Professor David Nutt, the drug expert who’s developed a functional drink and brought it to market.
The second is something different — the first in the Drinks Insider’s Wine + Health series.
Introducing Wine + Health
This is going to be an occasional podcast series, focusing on alcohol and health. Although I’ve called the podcast Wine + Health, it will focus on alcohol in general. Topics I’ll be tackling include:
What we know and don’t know about the impact of alcohol on health (both good and bad news)
How this information is being used to shape policy
The rise of the anti-alcohol movement
Are there really 76 additives in wine?
These episodes won’t appear regularly, for the simple reason that it takes a lot of time and trust to get doctors and researchers to speak on the record about alcohol.
The first episode has just dropped
Recently, WineBusiness Monthly published my article about the upcoming alcohol guidelines. The U.S. is in the middle of revising its dietary guidelines and, for the first time, alcohol is being considered separately from food.
Whatever they decide, it will have a major impact not just on the U.S. alcohol market, but also on other countries.
Canada attempted to do the same thing, but the recommendations from the relevant committee were so controversial, they were never adopted. Now, some of the same people are working on the U.S. guidelines.
David Clement, the North American Affairs Manager at Canada’s Consumer Choice Center, has written extensively about what happened in Canada. He called the process “nefarious.”
He appeared briefly in the WineBusiness Monthly story, but what David had to say was so interesting, I’ve turned it into a whole podcast episode. As always, a summary will be in the newsletter.
Speaking of which…
Subscriber-only benefits
The podcasts are going to be freely available to everyone, but the write-ups will be for subscribers only.
Here’s why: I’ve spent the last year doing a deep dive into this topic, and the cost has been massive. Last November, I even took a (very, very cheap and uncomfortable) flight to Boston to speak to Harvard researchers. I am planning on turning that conversation into a podcast episode, if the sound quality permits.
After one of my articles came out, my inbox was inundated with people telling me interesting things. I had people from Brussels, Washington lobbyists, scientists, and even someone who has worked in international health policy contacting me. All of them wanted to be off the record, frustratingly, but I heard lots of stories I now want to pursue. But I need time and space to do this.
If you can support the work by subscribing — or, better still, joining as a founding member — that would be hugely appreciated!
This week’s Drinks Insider guest
Professor David Nutt is a paradox — someone who’s witnessed firsthand the devastation that alcohol causes, but who’s also co-owned a wine bar. Now he’s on a mission to find a molecule that can do all the fun things that alcohol can do, without any of the harms.
In this podcast, he talks about hangovers, the state of alcohol research, and how he brought his functional drink Sentia to market. He’s a great guest, who keeps the conversation moving along.
The newsletter with the takeaways from the Lulie Halstead episode will be out shortly, followed by the David Clement story.
Thanks again for being part of Drinks Insider!
Felicity
P.S. I guess I should have called this newsletter The Two Daves. They’re both excellent speakers and I highly recommend listening to both conversations.
You can find the Dave Nutt podcast here and the David Clement podcast here.