Boozy Britain: We’re worst in Europe for problem drinking

BRITAIN has the larg- est number of ‘very high risk’ drinkers in Europe, a shocking study reveals.

Nearly 1.2 million – or just under 3 per cent of those aged 15 to 64 – are drinking at levels that are knocking two to three decades off their lives.

A ‘very high’ level of drinking was defined as consuming the equivalent of 1.2-1.5 bottles of wine every day.

Researchers described this group – around a fifth of problem drinkers – as ‘the most severely affected population of alcohol users’, ‘chronically intoxicated’ to the extent that their organs are being poisoned and their perception is impaired on a daily basis.

A Canadian team looked at the highest-risk drinkers in Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

The 2.78 per cent of the UK population classed as being ‘very high risk’ was the highest of all 13 EU countries in the study.

The Republic of Ireland had the second highest proportion of problem drinkers, at 2.72 per cent, while Sweden (0.02 per cent) and Hungary (0.03 per cent) had the lowest. The threshold of ‘very high risk’ drinking for men is 100g (12.5 units) of pure alcohol each day, which is equivalent to six 175ml glasses of wine at 12 per cent strength.

For women it is 60g ( 7.5 units), or three-and-a-half 175ml glasses of wine at 12 per cent strength.

On average the ‘very high risk’ drinkers drank 122g of pure alcohol daily – equivalent to more than oneand-a-half bottles of wine. The researchers said drinking at such levels could shorten their lives by between two and three decades.

They also noted that it imposed an enormous burden on the health service, with alcohol abuse estimated to cost it £3.5billion a year.

In the UK three-quarters of all cases of cirrhosis of the liver are caused by ‘very high risk’ drinkers, the study said.

It also estimated that they represent 61 per cent of oral and throat cancer cases; 31 per cent of colon cancer cases; 40 per cent of oesophageal cancer cases; and 19.6 per cent of haemorrhagic strokes.

Dr Jurgen Rehm, of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, who led the study, said not enough was being done to deal with the heaviest drinkers.

He said: ‘Public health seems to have overlooked people with very high drinking levels and seen them primarily as a small minority who should be helped clinically in the health care system.

‘However, a more systematic analysis shows that marked burden of disease is associated with this drinking pattern in Europe, and more comprehensive policies should be considered.’

Dr Rehm added that the reason the UK had the highest proportion of problem drinkers may be the fact that alcohol is sold relatively cheaply in supermarkets.

Professor Ian Gilmore, an alcohol expert at Liverpool University, said the figures underlined the ‘huge burden’ of alcohol abuse on the NHS, adding: ‘The majority of cases of cirrhosis occur in these very heavy drinkers and the authors are quite right that we should be targeting these people early and offering proper treatment services.

‘But many diseases, including cancers, accidents and harm to others, are linked to drinking at more modest levels and it is important to tackle our unhealthy relationship with alcohol by encouraging us all to drink less.’ The research is published in Addiction Biology.

‘Enormous burden on NHS’