This is the first article that has implied that this historical beer consumption was this high % wise, so I am suspicious of the phrasing "taken to be" that is

This is the first article that has implied that this historical beer consumption was this high % wise, so I am suspicious of the phrasing "taken to be" that is used all over the place. IDK if this means something specific in the context of scientific papers, but in conversational English it can be interpreted as "a number I made up".