Chair of WineHealth 2013 scientific advisory committee

Abstract

This collection of 16 papers was presented at the WineHealth 2013 International Wine and Health Conference. This conference was the seventh in the series of WineHealth International Wine and Health conferences and was held in Sydney, Australia on 18–20 July 2013. There were eight sessions in total comprising 28 presentations. These presentations considered the evolving epidemiological evidence on the relationship between alcohol and wine consumption and human health, in addition to recent scientific studies on the effects of wine consumption on different diseases of ageing and the influence of diet and lifestyle. Recent research on the biological effects and mechanisms of grape and wine components was also considered. As was discussed in the opening Serge Renaud Memorial Lecture (Ellison 2014, pp. 81-84), and over the following days of the conference, epidemiological studies conducted since the publication of the ‘French paradox’ [1] have generally concluded that there is an inverse relationship between light to moderate consumption of wine and risk of cardiovascular disease. This inverse relationship can be extended to all-cause mortality, that is, regular light to moderate consumption reduces the risk of death from all causes compared to heavy consumption and lifelong abstinence, including death from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, dementia, diabetes and certain cancers [2–9]. These studies have been subsequently supported by in vitro, animal and ex vivo studies, as well as limited ∗Corresponding author: Creina S. Stockley, AWRI, PO Box 197, Glen Osmond, SA 5064, Australia. E-mail: Creina.Stockley@awri. com.au. human in vivo studies, which have elucidated multiple biological mechanisms. This emerging science is often not considered, however, when public health policy on alcohol is prepared, as policy generally focuses on the risk of short and long term harms to human health as consumption increases above moderation. The WHO’s Projected global death for selected causes, 2005 to 2030, suggests that death from ischaemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and cancers, in particular, will continue to increase [10]. Cardiovascular diseases accounted for 34% of the total number of deaths in Australia in 2008, and 18% of the overall burden of disease, with coronary heart disease and stroke contributing over 80% of this burden [11]. Alcohol consumption per se, however, accounted for −4.7% of the total cardiovascular disease burden. Australia shares similar demographics and the same 19 leading causes of burden as other high income developed countries [12]. Globally, the population aged 60 years and over is projected to nearly triple by 2050, while the population aged 80 years and over is projected to experience a more than five-fold increase. In Australia, between now and 2050 the number of older individuals (65 to 84 years) is expected to more than double; and the number of very old individuals (85 and over) is expected to more than quadruple from 0.4 million people today to 1.8 million in 2050 (www.treasury.gov.au/igr/ igr2010/Overview/html/overview). Increased numbers of older individuals may have implications for expenditure on income support, housing and health services,