| Steady moderate drinkers but accepted as standard risks | 86 | per cent. |
| Having past excesses | 50 | " " |
| Very moderate drinkers | 18 | " " |
This means that steady drinkers who exceed two glasses of beer or one glass of whisky daily are not, on the evidence, entitled to standard insurance, but should be charged a heavy extra premium.
In these groups, the death rates from Bright’s disease, pneumonia and suicide were higher than the normal.
Consumption of Alcohol
The per capita consumption of alcohol has greatly increased in the United States in recent years, while in the United Kingdom it has materially decreased, as shown in the following table. This factor must be considered in assigning a cause for the increasing mortality from degenerative diseases in this country as compared to a decreasing mortality from these maladies in Great Britain.
| 1896–1900. | 1908–1912. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beer. | Wine. | Spirits. | Total. | Beer. | Wine. | Spirits. | Total. | |
| Germany | 25.4 | 1.37 | 1.66 | 28.43 | 22.4 | 1.09 | 1.29 | 24.78 |
| United Kingdom | 31.6 | .39 | 1.05 | 33.04 | 26.65 | .26 | .71 | 27.62 |
| France | 5.5 | 19.9 | 1.7 | 27.1 | 8.6 | 24.7 | 1.42 | 34.72 |
| United States | 13.01 | .30 | .81 | 14.12 | 16.62 | .52 | 1.02 | 18.16 |
Laboratory and Clinical Evidence Relating to the Physiological Effects of Alcohol
To interpret correctly the mortality statistics relating to moderate drinkers and total abstainers, one must have some knowledge of the physiological effects of alcohol in so-called moderate doses, a knowledge which is often lacking in those who assume to interpret such statistics.
For example: If it could be shown that small doses of alcohol produce no ascertainable ill effects upon the human organism, the higher mortality among the moderate drinkers as compared to total abstainers might have to be explained as due to some as yet unrecognized cause or causes other than alcohol. But if laboratory and clinical evidence shows that alcohol in so-called moderate quantities (social moderation) produces definite ill effects, such as lowering the resistance to disease, increasing the liability to accident and interfering with the efficiency of mind and body and thus lessening the chances for success in life, to say nothing of any toxic degenerative effect upon liver, kidneys, brain and other organs, the excess mortality that unquestionably obtains among moderate drinkers as compared to total abstainers must be ascribed chiefly to alcohol.
It is not possible here to give all the evidence, but the following items will serve to clarify these questions.