Alcohol Intake

[Mike Hughes]

Are these results believable?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7045830.stm

It suggests that in large areas of the country up to 9% of the population are drinking more than 50 units per week (for men). That's more than a bottle of wine a day.

And I was thinking I should maybe try cutting back a bit. Turns out I probably need to drink a bit more to get to the normal/average level.

Mike

[george]

Was the survey done just after v8 was released?



PS I hardly ever drink unless I'm on an awayday.

[leehack]

It's by far the worst, yet the most legal drug IMO and should be banned. Coppers can then stop people getting mugged or broken into, instead of refereeing the town centres at closing times.

[fergusw]

It's by far the worst

agreed

and should be banned.

disagree.

Every time I go away to lovely, sunny foreign places I almost rarely see other cultures abusing alcohol in the same way we do?
It's a cultural problem, not a legal one!

Ban the TV - it's by far and away more damaging to our culture. TV is more of the cause with alcohol abuse more the effect!

*lights fuse......... stands back..."

[freakmode]

It's a cultural problem, not a legal one!

Spot on - Pikey Nation sat at home flicking through the Argos catalog while watching their new 42" plasma. Too many people now in the UK with their nose in the trough not giving it enough time to be filled up

[jont]

should be banned

You trying to get me on the dole?

[leehack]

No, not at all, trying to affect anothers livelihood is a shallow idea.

I would just make your industry revolve around wine and taste, not alcohol. If alcohol didn't exist, we would have some stunning alcohol free wines and beers available and more to the point, people could never say 'it's not the same' as there would be nothing to compare it to.

[fergusw]

I would just make your industry revolve around wine and taste, not alcohol. If alcohol didn't exist, we would have some stunning alcohol free wines and beers available

Interesting point Lee.
My opinion however is that unless you can effect a cultural change all that will happen is that people will turn to the next thing they can abuse and get off their heads on.
Alcohol free is treating the symptom, not the cause, although there should be room for both!

It's similar to politicians putting huge pressure on education institutions to pressure students to perform to pass exams, not to develop their intellect, social skills and cultural empathy for societies benefit, purely to satisfy the voters about progress, whilst in the background teachers cannot teach due to growing administrative demands to track these "measures".

Short term solutions with ineffectual results compounding existing problems.

Well, maybe not similar, but it allowed me to let that Bee out of my bonnet.

[Legends]

I take a different view

The survey said that "people who drink between 7 and 17 large glasses of wine a week are in serious danger of damaging their health"

I only have to increase my intake by two glasses to get myself out of the danger zone

Sorted - off to have another glass of pinot grigio.

Cheers

[jont]

Ian - drink straight from the bottle to save time

The largest culprit is cheap cider - this should be taxed at a much higher rate - you can buy gallons of uber-strength Gut-Rot White for pennies which is only going to encourage binge, underage and unsociable drinking. The largest export market for the big cider producers is Scotland - with Glasgow in particular skewing the stats - and this is an area traditionally with some of the highest percentage of alcoholics in the country.

[Legends]

It's similar to politicians putting huge pressure on education institutions to pressure students to perform to pass exams, not to develop their intellect, social skills and cultural empathy for societies benefit, purely to satisfy the voters about progress, whilst in the background teachers cannot teach due to growing administrative demands to track these "measures".

Nurses cannot nurse - police cannot police and out of their frustration they turn to drink.

Its a symptom (as Fergus says) of our modern day living and will not get better whilst we blindly chase targets and goals without considering the bigger picture.

Eating is another problem that is symtomatic of our modern day environment.

You have to consider this - if we all know it is really bad for us why do we do it - once we know that we can then treat the problem - banning drink (or food) will not help IMO.

Amazing how much clarity I get after my third glass of the morning.

Cheers