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Saturday, 17 May 2008
Binge drinking - Part 4
Kahless apparently was in good spirits last night enjoying a Bacardi or two.
But as the quotes below show if she drank 4 or more nips of Bacardi then according to her government she is drinking at dangerous levels.
The last quote is interesting and perhaps the Swedish government is the only one that is being a little bit realistic about what the term “Binge drinking” means and is not treating its constituents like they are morons as the Australian, UK & US governments do.
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A standard drink is defined as one that contains 10 grams of pure alcohol:
• One can (375mL) low-alcohol beer.
• One pot (285mL) regular beer.
• Three-quarters of a stubby (375mL) of regular beer.
• One glass of mixed drink (30mL spirits + mixer).
• One nip (30mL) of spirit or liqueur.
• 100mL (small glass) table wine.
• Three-quarters of a bottle (330mL) of alcoholic soda.
There is no internationally agreed definition of binge drinking, but in the UK, drinking surveys normally define binge drinkers as men consuming at least eight, and women at least six standard units of alcohol in a single day, that is, double the maximum recommended ‘safe limit’ for men and women respectively.
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One of the commonly used thresholds for binge drinking is five or more drinks for men and four or more for women per occasion. This is often reduced to ‘five or more drinks’, regardless of gender and obtains in many international reports and studies.
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Recommended limits for Guys
• No more than four standard drinks a day on average, with an occasional maximum of six standard drinks.
• One or two alcohol-free days a week.
Recommended limits for Girls
• No more than two standard drinks a day on average, with an occasional maximum of four standard drinks.
• One or two alcohol-free days a week
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The epidemiological research literature shows a broad range of definitions of binge drinking.
4+ drinks per occasion for women / 5+ drinks per occasion for men (US)
5+ drinks per occasion on at least one in last 30 days (US)
Blood alcohol concentration raised to 0.08g/ml or above (US/ NIAAA)
1/2 bottle of spirits or 2 bottles of wine on the same occasion (Sweden)
6+ bottles of beer per session (Finland)
8 drinks within the same day (Canada)
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Kenoath makes a very good point in his comment in part 3 of the binge drinking saga. He states:
“Seeing as though the health dept have hijacked the word "binge" for their purposes it makes sense to coin another phrase that suits.
Wasted Drinking perhaps? Why don't we all go and get Wasted tonight? Wasted Drinking sounds good. I can just imagine the headlines now. "Teenagers run amok and get wasted on several jugs of beer." "Wasted Drinking is becoming a problem in our society".
(End quote)
I agree with him that with these new definitions of the term “Binge drinking” it has now become a meaningless term. It is a bit like the term ADD. That used to be a realistic diagnostic psychological state. These days any unruly child is diagnosed as ADD and probably put on dexamphetamines. So what the term ADD originally meant was lost long ago.
So Kenoath’s suggestion of seeking a new term to mean what real binge drinking once was seems like a fruitful exercise. “Wasted” seems good. Lets see what Michael Hutchence has to say about it
Although Micheal did have excesses in other areas. Him and little demur Kylie Minogue used to really push the envelope it seems, with somewhat unfortunate consequences in the end!!
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