Are you drinking too much?
Everyone knows the health risks facing young binge-drinkers staggering around bars on a Saturday night, but there is another group of regular drinkers who may also be quietly boozing their way to oblivion.
Middle-aged and older people are at risk of damaging their health by drinking excessively at home, according to the Royal College of Physicians. Increasing numbers of people over 40 are choosing to drink in this way, taking advantage of cheap alcohol sold in supermarkets. In addition, some Scottish smokers prefer to drink at home because of the smoking ban.
The continental habit of drinking wine with meals has also become increasingly popular in the UK in the past 15 years. Yet, without the checks and balances of European culture, many Britons may be taking lifestyle drinking to extremes.
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Professor Ian Gilmore, head of the RCP, says the number of adults turning to drink is a cause for concern. "The focus up until now has been on young people drinking and their anti-social behaviour, but the spotlight has not been on older people drinking at home - especially with cheaper alcohol available. And alcohol has never been cheaper in real terms in our lifetime than it is now," he says.
Gilmore says a significant number of older people are drinking at unsafe levels and risking long-term health problems such as depression, heart disease or, in some cases, cirrhosis of the liver.
A study by market analyst Mintel shows Britain has one of the highest levels of people drinking at home. Some 74% of people drink at home in the UK compared with 66% in France, 64% in Germany and 44% in Spain. And while some of these countries have helped fuel our taste for consuming wine with meals, France at least, which formerly had a high level of unsafe drinking, has now cleaned up its act. Gilmore believes Britain should follow this example.
"We're incredibly liberal in this country," he says. "You go to France and there's a ban on broadcast advertising (of alcohol) and there's no sports sponsorship in France. Their drinking is falling, their cirrhosis rates are falling."
I think you drink more when you’re retired because you can relax more.
One particular group of older people who may not recognise a creeping drink problem is retired people. Unlike younger people, who often drink to take the edge off work stress, retirees, conversely, often drink habitually because the pressures of working life have gone.
Helen Morton, 58, from Dollar, in Clackmannanshire, and her husband James, 59, have both retired from running their own business; their two sons are in their twenties and living away from home. Morton says she and James might drink three bottles of wine a week between them with dinner, and have a few other drinks if they go out with friends. This is a marked change from when they were busy running their own company, when they were far more abstemious.
Morton says: "I think you drink more when you're retired because you can relax more," she says. "Your kids have left home, you've got more time and more money, and if you're out with a few friends you think why not have a few bottles of wine?' When you're working, you would be a lot more careful about what you drink as there's a lot more at stake.
"I can see how it could be a problem for some people, though. I know people my age who would easily drink a fair bit every night," she says.
Morton says there is more of a wine-drinking culture in Scotland now than in the past. "Years ago, you had a bottle of wine for a special occasion or if you went out for a meal, but now you can drink it at home whenever you want. And there's no stigma about having a glass of wine at home on your own either - if your husband is away, for instance - which I do occasionally. But I don't drink with the intention of getting legless." Professor Gilmore says it's easy for people to go over the recommended limit. "A lot of people are having a bottle every night. When you consider there can be 10 or 11 units (of alcohol) in a strong bottle of wine (12 or 13% alcohol by volume) that can add up to a lot in one week." For a couple, that could be around 35 units a week each, which is drastically above the recommended limits.
Jack Law, the chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, says: "There is definitely a need for improved awareness about sensible drinking habits for the middle-aged. Older people are far more likely to require counselling or hospital treatment for their drinking. In Scotland, around 20% of people aged 45 to 64 are exceeding the recommended consumption limits." Law says that older people drinking at home tend to pour larger measures of alcohol. "This makes the need for more effective labelling on all drinks packaging all the more important." His organisation says that people over 65 should drink less than younger, fitter people. In older people, the effects of alcohol are increased because it is more concentrated in the body. And the rate at which alcohol is broken down in the body is also slower, causing alcohol to circulate longer.
Also, the liver becomes more easily damaged by alcohol as we age, leading to serious liver problems including cirrhosis. Medical experts warn that you don't have to be alcohol-dependent to get liver cirrhosis. For older people, drinking excessive amounts can lead to other health problems, such heart disease, stroke, stomach problems, cancer of the mouth, gullet and bowel and emotional and family upheavals.
According to a recent Alcohol Statistics report from the Scottish Executive, the issue may not be levels of drinking, but frequency, and the fact that older people are more likely to drink every day. An executive spokesman said: "No measures by government alone will truly tackle alcohol misuse - most of all, people need to take responsibility for their own drinking habits."
Helen Morton says that drinking rules often don't impress older people. "Many don't think about the adverse affects of drinking. They think what the hell, we're told one day that certain things are bad for us and the next day they're good, so why not have a few drinks?'"
The Herald
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