Young Drinking More

You would be forgiven for under-standing official Government advice to mean that four units of alcohol a day will do you no harm, but, on the other hand, four units a day will damage your health.

The twenty-ninth edition of Social Trends - the annual publication of the Office for National Statistics - repeats this confusing advice on "sensible drinking" and confirms government policy when it briefly discusses alcohol consumption in the United Kingdom. "The current Department of Health advice on alcohol consumption is that drinking between three and four units a day for men and two to three units a day for women will not accrue significant health risks, but that consistently drinking four units or more a day (three units or more for women) is not advised because of the significant health risk."

The authors also say that "medical advice is that light to moderate drinking of alcohol is unlikely to damage health and may even provide a health benefit for certain groups. However, sustained consumption of alcohol at higher levels is thought to be associated with increased likelihood of social and health problems including high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, and cirrhosis of the liver." It is significant, given the government's concentration on the medical effects of alcohol, that no example of social problems is given. As it is clear that alcohol-related social problems far outweigh in extent those associated with the drinker's own health, it is important for a publication like Social Trends to provide comprehensive data. One of the recommendations of the EUROCARE/COFACE report, Alcohol Problems in the Family, is that the collection of information about family alcohol problems should be improved and coordinated. Perhaps Her Majesty's Government will take the lead in this and for the Office for National Statistics begin the process in the next edition of Social Trends.

In the small section on alcohol, it is reported that young men and women are most likely to drink beyond the advised maximum level. "In 1996-97, 35 per cent of 16 to 24 year old men in the United Kingdom drank more than 21 units a week and 22 per cent of women of the same age drank more than 14 units of alcohol a week." The proportion of people consuming over these amounts has been growing. This is particularly so among women where the percentage drinking more than 14 units a week has increased from 9 to 14 between 1984 and 1996-97.

In the section on illicit drug, Social Trends tells us unsurprisingly that "young people are more likely to misuse drugs than older people." One area for concern is the finding that under a third of those aged between 16 and 54 who had used drugs in the previous month said they would like to stop using them completely and about 60 per cent said that they saw no need to stop at the moment.

Social Trends 29 (1999 edition) is available from The Publications Centre, PO Box 276, London, SW8 5DT (telephone 0171-873 9090, facsimile 0171 873 8200).