Macron drinks too much wine, says health expert

French president Emmanuel Macron’s habit of drinking a glass of wine with lunch and dinner has come under fire from a leading epidemiologist.

Macron has previously been criticised for his laissez faire attitudes towards alcohol regulation. Now his own drinking habits are under attack.

Macron’s 14 glasses of wine a week, one with lunch and dinner each day, is unhealthy, claims French epidemiologist Catherine Hill. She has previously served on the Agence du Médicament’s scientific advisory board.

Macron opened up about his alcohol consumption at an agricultural fair last month. Hill said in an interview with France Info: “The president is ill-informed [about the health risks associated with drinking] and drinks too much.”

Hill recommended that Macron limit himself to 10 glasses per week. His current consumption of 14 glasses a week is in line with the French national average.

The debate over France’s predilection for wine came to a head when nine doctors published an open letter in Le Figaro last month.

They claimed that comments made by Macron and his government about the health benefits of wine were misleading and called for tougher regulations. Alcohol leads to around 50,000 deaths per year in France, they added.

In February, France’s health minister appeared on a programme for France 2 called ‘Alcohol: the French taboo’ and criticised the French government’s attitude to wine.

He said: “We have let the French population think that wine protects them, that it brings benefits that other alcohols do not. It’s untrue scientifically, wine is an alcohol like any other.”

France drinks around 12 litres of alcohol per capita per year, making its alcohol consumption one of the highest in Europe. 60% of this is wine.