Adult binge drinkers prefer beer; teens hard liquor

Binge-drinking is an increasing problem across a spectrum of age groups but two sobering analyses reveal that adults have a preference for beer binges while teens tend to swill the harder spirits.

Training a spotlight on alcoholic drinking habits is vital, experts said Tuesday, because bingeing has become a national public health problem.

"If Joe Six-Pack would drink just one or two beers we'd all be a lot better off," said Dr. Timothy Naimi, lead author of one of the studies. Instead, binge drinkers tend to imbibe at least 5 or more drinks one drink after another, which leads to a host of calamities -- some of them deadly -- such as auto accidents as well as aberrant sexual behavior, Naimi said.

Naimi's research of 14,000 adult binge drinkers, which was funded by the federal Centers for Disease Control, appears in the current issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. A second CDC-sponsored study released Tuesday said teenage binge drinkers prefer distilled spirits over beer.

"Beer accounted for more than three times as many drinks as the next most common beverage types," said Naimi, who found in his national, random telephone survey that nearly 75 percent of adult men and women who binge exclusively prefer beer, 17 percent drank the harder stuff and 9 percent drank wine. "Beer is king when it comes to binge drinking and this may be at odds with the public perception of beer as the everyman drink."

Also at odds with the public perception is the age of the average binge drinker. Not all are chug-a-lugging frat boys. "People of college age 18 to 25 account for only 30 percent of all binge drinking episodes. So college binge drinking is only the tip of the iceberg," Naimi said.

Beer is probably the choice of many drinkers, Naimi continued, because it is so easily accessible. It can be purchased in grocery and convenience stores, at gas stations and even at some pharmacies. Very early morning purchases and those late at night usually are not for "noble purposes," he said.

Naimi called on state and federal lawmakers to reconsider lopsided sales policies, especially the variety of venues in which the brew is sold. Beer is as inebriating as other forms of alcohol, Naimi said.

The National Beer Wholesalers Association, which represents distributors, did not address Naimi's proposal to control beer sales. In a prepared statement Tuesday the association said "society loses when alcohol beverages are abused."

The second CDC study found that teens prefer hard liquor over beer. The report showed hard liquor to be the of choice of youths in 9th through 12th grade.

Locally, binge-drinking - teenage and otherwise - is a major problem, said Eileen Wolf, clinical director of the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. The council, which has offices in Hauppauge, Williston Park and Riverhead, serves as an intervention point for people who have problems with addiction.

Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi recently signed into law a measure that holds adults accountable for underage drinking occurring in their homes. The measure carries fines up to $1,000 and possible jail time. The bill grew out of all-night binge parties.

"Binge drinking is playing Russian Roulette with your brain," Wolf said.

Newsday