Middle-aged more likely than young to booze too much
MIDDLE-AGED people are more likely to drink too much alcohol than the younger generation, new NHS statistics revealed yesterday.
Some 29 per cent of people aged 55 to 64 drank more than 14 units a week, compared with just 17 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds, according to the Health Survey for England.
There were 7,551 deaths from alcohol last year, the second highest figure since records began in 2001, separate figures from the Office for National Statistics showed.
Alcohol addiction expert Dr Niall Campbell, of London’s The Priory Hospital Roehampton, said: “These latest statistics are very worrying and doctors are concerned they do not even reflect the true picture.
“The Government’s definition of an alcohol-specific death only includes health conditions where each death is a direct consequence of alcohol misuse, such as alcoholic liver disease.
“There are many other ways that people can die involving alcohol – accidents related to intoxication like falling down stairs and suffering a fatal head injury are often not recorded on death certificates as alcohol-related.”
Over-75s were the most likely to drink “almost every day”, at 17 per cent of men and 12 per cent of women.
And 26 per cent of men and 29 per cent of women were obese, the survey also found.
Caroline Cerny, of the Obesity Health Alliance, said: “High rates of obesity in adults and children are sadly reflective of the environment we live in – flooded with unhealthy food and drinks and relentless marketing to tell us to buy and eat more.”