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 In England, surveys measuring everyday alcohol consumption account
for only 60 percent of the total alcohol sold in stores, the
researchers write in BMC Medicine.
By only focusing on typical drinking patterns, surveys miss a lot of
alcohol consumption that happens on special occasions like weddings,
holidays, and sporting events, according to Mark Bellis, the lead
author on the study.
“We wanted to better understand drinking patterns to better inform
people about the risks and improve public health responses to
drinking,” said Bellis, the director of policy, research and
development for Public Health Wales.
The researchers conducted a phone survey of over 6,000 people over
the age of 16 in England to assess the amount of special occasion
drinking that may not be picked up by other surveys.
Respondents were asked about their alcohol consumption on days where
they drank more than usual. This included less typical days such as
Friday nights, as well as their average number of drinks during
holidays and events.
Overall, 4,604 of the survey subjects said they were “current
drinkers.”
Responses from these individuals showed that on atypical and special
occasions, people drank an extra 120 million units of alcohol per
week in England, or the equivalent of 12 million bottles of wine.
The researchers defined one unit of alcohol as 8 grams of pure
alcohol, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
defined a standard drink as having 14 grams.
The greatest increase in drinking was among the 25-34 year-olds who
had the highest everyday drinking rates. For this group, special
occasion drinking added 18 units per week for both men and women.
Overall, when including atypical drinking, 25- to 34-year-old men
reported the highest weekly consumption of alcohol.
In general, men added a higher number of drinks on special
occasions, but women had the greatest increases relative to how much
they generally drank.
People who reported lower rates of drinking, one unit or less per
week, showed a large increase and drank more than twice as much over
special occasions.
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According to the authors, adding in the extra atypical and special
occasion drinking accounts for more than 40 percent of the gap
between previous surveys of alcohol consumption and actual alcohol
sales in England.
“Most people underestimate their atypical consumption. They also
underestimate the risk for harm associated with their drinking. Many
people unknowingly seem to accept much higher risks from alcohol
consumption compared to other risks,” said Michael Roerecke, an
independent scientist at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health
in Canada.
According to the World Health Organization, alcohol is related to
more than 200 health conditions and causes nearly 6 percent of all
deaths globally.
Roerecke, who was not involved in the study, said in an email that
the health risks of drinking heavily over time can include high
blood pressure, liver disease, and many types of cancer.
Roerecke also noted that heavy drinking on special occasions can
also put people at risk for injury, even if this behavior is rare.
Bellis agreed, saying in an email that when people consume a large
number of drinks in one sitting, they “increase their risks of being
involved in accidents, violence and overdose.”
Bellis advises, “Think about how much you consume, especially on
those nights and times of the year when you might be drinking more.”
SOURCE: bit.ly/1FQdFiS BMC Medicine, online May 22, 2015.
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