Beer vs. Wine: Which is more toxic?

Many people, fearing the high alcohol content of spirits, switch to drinking beer because they believe it's healthier and doesn't harm the liver.

Every day, in the emergency room, Dr. Vu Truong Khanh, Deputy Head of the Gastroenterology Department at Bach Mai Hospital, constantly receives critically ill patients due to their habit of consuming alcohol.

The doctor confided, "Only by being here, seeing patients every day who are either critically ill or screaming and writhing in agony, can you truly understand how terrible the effects of alcohol are."

The idea that drinking beer or wine instead of spirits because of the lower alcohol content is less harmful to health is a misconception. Photo: Yesofcorsa.

In the Gastroenterology department, doctors receive 5-7 cases of cirrhosis every day, even though they initially only had fatty liver disease due to excessive alcohol consumption. Many of these patients are surprised when the doctor reads out their diagnosis.

"Many patients think, 'I only drink beer, not liquor, so how could I have cirrhosis?' That's a common misconception among many Vietnamese people today," Dr. Khanh said.

Experts warn that the notion of drinking beer or wine instead of spirits, thinking that the lower alcohol content means less impact on health, is a mistake.

"Instead of drinking about 200 ml of 40-50% alcohol spirits, many people switch to drinking an entire 600 ml bottle of wine. But with an alcohol content of 12%, they have ingested almost the same amount of alcohol as in spirits."

Similarly, many people quit drinking wine and switch to beer because of its lower alcohol content (around 5%). However, if we drink 2-3 liters of beer in a single drinking session, the amount of alcohol is equivalent to them drinking 200 ml of 50-proof liquor,” Dr. Khanh explained.

The figures of 3.4 billion liters of beer and 70 million liters of spirits consumed by Vietnamese people in 2015 clearly reflect this reality. Regarding beer alone, Vietnam is the highest-consuming country in Southeast Asia, ranking third in Asia after Japan and China, and among the top 25 in the world.

Furthermore, it is projected that by 2020, beer production will reach over 4 billion liters per year. If people still believe that beer is little or not harmful, this figure will become a reality, meaning many alarming health and social consequences will follow.

At the workshop "Contributing opinions on the law on preventing and combating the harmful effects of alcohol and beer," Ms. Tran Thi Trang, Deputy Director of the Legal Department (Ministry of Health), emphasized that beer consumption in Vietnam is currently very high, while regulations controlling this product are lacking. In particular, the media portrays beer as a refreshing and nutritious beverage. This leads people to believe that beer is not harmful to health, and may even be beneficial.

Vietnamese law only prohibits advertising of alcoholic beverages with an alcohol content of 15 degrees or higher, while beer and spirits with an alcohol content below 16 degrees are not restricted in terms of target audience, content, time, and location…

Therefore, experts believe that the early enactment of a Law on the Prevention and Control of the Harmful Effects of Alcohol and Beer is essential.

According to Zing