He goes on to cite a now-familiar study--quite a large meta-analysis--that concludes that there is no such thing as "safe" alcohol consumption:Several people on the paternal side — the non-Latter-day Saint side — of my extended family had fairly serious problems with alcohol throughout their lives. In one or two cases, unfortunately, their problems impacted others beside themselves.
There is evidence that heredity can incline a person to chronic alcohol abuse. So, not knowing whether I myself might have been born with a genetic proclivity in that direction, I’ve always been quietly grateful that, when the time came for me to choose whether or not to drink, I had already committed myself on religious grounds, with considerable support from my faith community, not to do so. I’ve never regretted the choice even slightly. I’ve never been tempted, at all, not a single solitary time, to go back on it.
Maybe. Perhaps he was "saved" by being a Mormon in this regard: it's difficult to argue with the evidence that alcohol is unhealthy. That said, it's also fairly easy to see this as a kind of blindness: sure, perhaps he was spared the challenges of alcohol addiction, but that's not the only kind of addiction that one can suffer from. And there are many harmful things--both substances and activities--that *aren't* prohibited by the Word of Wisdom. Earlier in the blog entry, the Proprietor provides some additional information:Over the years, though, I’ve wondered about seeming evidence that moderate consumption of wine was actually beneficial to human health. In that event, I reasoned, perhaps the chief function of the Word of Wisdom’s bar to alcohol consumption would be to serve as a token or a marker of commitment to obeying the will of God, even without evidence of temporal benefit.
However, things have changed a bit in recent years. I’ve already mentioned this study here on my blog, but it bears repeating because some may have missed the news and because that news is really quite important: “No amount of alcohol is good for your overall health, global study says” And this still more recent story should probably be, as it were, added to the mix: “1 in 20 deaths globally are a result of alcohol use” And then there are results such as these: “2016 Alcohol-Impaired Driving Fatalities per 100,000 Population by State”
All in all, the Latter-day Saint practice of abstention from alcoholic beverages is looking very good these days, scientifically speaking.
Well, we checked off most of the items on our list during this visit to Newport Beach: We had a meal at the restaurant (The Farmhouse) at Roger’s Gardens, and another one at the Beachcomber at Crystal Cove. I had a date milkshake at the Shake Shack just off of the Pacific Coast Highway near Crystal Cove (overlooking the Beachcomber), just as I first began to do with my parents back as early as I can remember, when we would drive down from our home near Los Angeles to visit my father’s family in and around San Diego.
on Friday, we were able to host one of my late brother’s sons and his family for swimming and pizza and mochi donuts and conversation.
Date milkshakes? Mochi donuts? Ice cream? Surely The Proprietor--who stays abreast of the best health-related research--knows that a piece was published in Nature--arguably the top science publication on Planet Earth--by Prof. Robert Lustig et al., explaining that sugar "exerts toxic effects on the liver that are similar to those of alcohol." The article notes that "Some early studies have also linked sugar consumption to human cancer and cognitive decline." Cognitive decline, eh? Quite interesting.We would have stopped in at The Hat for the pastrami dip sandwich that I grew up with (and that I love and that my wife, well, doesn’t) and at Fosselman’s, in honor of my brother, who loved their ice cream.
You have to wonder: Why doesn't the Word of Wisdom have anything to say about sugar consumption? These well-respected scientists writing for Nature point out that "fructose exerts toxic effects on the liver that are similar to those of alcohol1. This is no surprise, because alcohol is derived from the fermentation of sugar." Therefore, the Proprietor's declaration that "Perhaps it saved me" seems rather myopic: it's like saying, "Good thing I was only blinded in my left eye! If it wasn't for the WoW, I might have been blinded in my right eye instead!" "SeN" is littered with accounts of the Proprietor eating ice cream, cake, milkshakes, and other sugary treats--and that's not even getting into the problems of foods like huge pastrami dips, cheese fondues, and other things that no doubt pose problems to health. And don't get me wrong--I enjoy sweets as much as the next person. But there is something amiss here when, on the one hand, the Proprietor is applauding himself for abstaining from alcohol while, on the other hand, exultantly describing all the equally bad things he's shoveling into his mouth. As he states at one point:
Fine: no argument there. But if the point is that this obedience comes with real health benefits, well, then.... The hypocrisy seems rather glaring. Trading alcohol while extolling something that is just as toxic--both in terms of individual health and socially--is quite problematic. Plus, as I noted at the outset, "substances" are not the only things that a person can be addicted to. If the Proprietor really thinks that he had a genetic propensity for additiction, perhaps there are other areas--behaviors, maybe? such as blogging, or picking fights with critics?--where this has popped up?perhaps the chief function of the Word of Wisdom’s bar to alcohol consumption would be to serve as a token or a marker of commitment to obeying the will of God, even without evidence of temporal benefit.
( no offence to the fellow foodies). Yes unhealthy but very different. I have witnessed the effects of alcoholism. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. 
