The nation's largest brewer wants everyone to know that moderate consumption of beer carries just as many health benefits as wine and has enlisted the aid of a Harvard epidemiologist to make its
point. Dr. Meir Stampfer, known as the "rock star" of alcoholic beverage research, is playing a key role in the brewer's effort to publicize the health benefits of beer consumption by delivering
lectures to groups of medical journalists. Dr. Stampfer's credentials on the issue are nothing short of stellar. He is the author of more than 50 research papers measuring the health implications of
moderate drinking, which has been found to be associated with lower rates of heart attack, diabetes and other ailments. A-B hopes his message will help boost sales because between 1995 and 2004,
beer's share of the overall U.S. alcoholic-beverage market fell to 58 percent from 61 percent, while wine's share grew to 14 percent from 12 percent. The brewers' plight is attributed to several
factors, including the low-carb diet trend and a penchant for customized cocktails among younger drinkers. However, Anheuser is convinced that a widespread perception that the apparent health
benefits of moderate alcohol consumption spring mostly from wine is also behind the slump. "There is a prevailing fallacy that wine is healthy and beer is not," W. Randolph Baker, Anheuser's chief
financial officer, told analysts last month.
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