To think 87.3% of British women don't drink less than me?

[theduchessstill]

I went on one of those sites where they track and evaluate your drinking - was inspired to do so by another thread. I know I drink a bit too much - across three nights I have a bottle of wine and often a couple of bottles of lager or another glass or 2 of wine.

The site calculated it as 16 units - I knew it would be there or thereabouts so no great shock there, but then said that 87.3% of British women drink less. I find that hard to believe. Who is buying all the wine then? There are people who are alcoholics, people who drink small - medium amounts every night, people who have a massive blow-out every week etc etc.

Surely we don't have a massive problem with alcohol in this country (and we do) if the vast majority of women drink less than me, who drinks slightly over the maximum amount recommended. In particular, I understood women's drinking was of particular concern.

I'm not looking for validation - I know the amount I have is a bit too much but I'm happy enough with it atm, but that figure seemed unlikely to me.

Its like being a size 16 and telling yourself that you are slim because everyone else around you is size 20

Great bitchy aside there, French.

It's the non-drinkers pulling the average down. Like how people say the average lifespan in the medieval period was 40, but that's because all of the people who died at 0. If you only counted from people who made it to adulthood the average would be much higher.

If 12% of women are drinking more than the maximum recommended then that is an 'alcohol problem' I suppose. Also I think there is a newer issue with people drinking it all in one go- going on the lash and getting paralytic on a fortnightly basis.

Loads of people don't, or barely, drink- a glass at christmas and weddings etc. I didn't used to drink at home, and I never got out, so I kept the statistics low for a while!

How people drink is hugely affected by social groupings, so we all think we are normal because of who we group with.

I went on a foetal alcohol syndrome course, which raised awareness of the high alcohol intake of working professional pregnant women who felt that one glass of wine was less harmful for the unborn baby than a stressed mummy. Wine glasses are big and wine is stronger than it used to be.

I think there's been a shift against drinking amongst the people I know.

When I was younger I would go out on the town once or twice a week and maybe to the pub once or twice too. I definitely drank more than I should. Now I have children I barely drink. Maybe one or two units a month on a special occasion. I have a completely different lifestyle.

Also age comes in to it. I can't handle the hangovers any more.

And some of my friends are fitter and more health conscious these days than they were when they were young.

I know a few people who drink very occasionally like me, some who drink a glass of wine at home with a meal most evenings and only one person who probably drinks too much whereas when I was young and working and partying hard, everybody around me drank over the limit.

I drink more than you op. I'd say I was moderate. Most of my friends and work colleagues drink more than me. A few drink less. I think also the stats say that only 20 percent of the population are tea total. So 80 percent drink. Your booze consumption is within healthy ranges.

Dunno why people tell fibs, or even why someone up thread said it was "taboo" in my world it's fairly normal to socialise together often and jabs a few drinks, to go out for dinner and have wine, to have a glass of wine in the evening, I've never seen anyone in disguise in the booze aisles of the supermarket, or hiding their wine in a restaurant 😂

Actually I wasn't being bitchy, just trying to illustrate the point of how easily we allow relativity and our environment to sway our judgement of where we sit (or should sit) on an given scale. And I mean that literally as well as metaphorically. It's too easy to get complacent and convince ourselves we have no need to try harder or do better when we see bar is set pretty low. That applies to education or anything else really.

And I say that as someone who is currently a size 16 and working hard on drinking less and eating better. I'm hardly the fattest most drunk woman on the high street, but that isn't the point.

I agree with your logic French and can totally see your point. I see 'a glass' of wine after the kids are in bed as no big deal because my peers do the same.

Doesn't make it a healthy choice and this thread is making me want to stop !

I drink a couple of glasses of wine once a month when out for a meal max.

None of my friends or family drink as much as you. If they did, I'd think they had a bit of a problem.

You drink a lot OP. You also sound like one of the Bridget Jones generation where a bottle of wine and a few beers was normalised. When instead it's about to be the biggest cause of liver disease for your age group because you never jacked it in.

When I'm not pregnant I have maybe two or three small bottles of beer one weekend a month, mainly in summer. Or a pint if we're on holiday. Alcohol is pretty fucking boring to be honest, so maybe that's why.

Apparently, survey responses by people stating how much they drink account for only about 50% of alcohol sales. So if you really do only drink 16 units, you probably aren't in the top 13% of female drinkers. But if we can't trust everyone else's estimates,how can we trust yours!

Researchers at UCL adjusted drink estimates up to account for the discrepancy between what people say and how much alcohol is sold and estimate that 80% of women drink over the weekly limit. But that's using a very rough method of assuming everyone is underestimating by the same percentage, rather than, say, all the people drinking way, way over knocking theirs down by loads and people who drink well within the limits not under estimating at all (because there's no social pressure to pretend to drink less when they're already within "approved" limits).

I suspect, if you have been very careful about Tracking your drinking, that you're right - and you aren't as close to the top as that. But I also think it's more likely that you under estimate your drinking to some extent, because so many people do.

I'm quite strange. Although I am pregnant at the moment so abstaining completely (my choice, no judgement on others) but I just can't do the glass of wine in the evening thing.

I drink very rarely at social occasions and special occasions. Though if I'm honest then I borderline binge drink. Since I've had dc though drinking seems like far too much effort 😂 I'm sure that'll change as the dc get older.

That calculator is very odd. I think it's because it's set up for more regular drinkers? I don't drink every week so it didn't really work for me so I just put in one drink a week, and it still said 55% of UK women drink less than me!

I agree glitter. It just seems really pointless to me. I drink socially, that's all. I'm getting a bit past the time where I can actually aim to get drunk, though, which is a bit sad! Oh well

I don't drink. Hardly ever anyway. I hate wine!
I only ever drink when I go for a night out which is once or twice a year.

Always think that they should ask the averge drinker what they drink. Some people - probably quite a lot - don't drink at all because they're pregnant, because they don't like it, ot because of religion. Skews the figures.

Over the course of a typical week I probably have a bottle and a half of wine. Not all at once, not every day. No idea how many units that is.

I think people lie or honestly don't know how to calculate units. The only time I drink less than you is when I'm pregnant (none) or breastfeeding (very little). The rest of the time I drink the same or slightly more (maybe 20 units a week?) and this is a lot less than I drank in my 20s, as well as being less than many of my friends/ relatives / colleagues have.

Apparently the number "14" isn't based on robust evidence anyway. Clearly 40 units a week would be a lot, but is 14 so much better than 20? Is it really as safe as 7? I don't think we know -- and that's without taking into account body weight/ metabolic differences.

But that doesn't sit true with this article in the Torygraph, admittedly from 2011 and based on 2005 figures and also referring to 'Britons' rather than England, states that the per capita consumption of alcohol for everyone over 15 in the UK amounts to 1337 units of alcohol per year, so 25.7 a week!

Yeah but this is mean. So it will be skewed by people at the top drinking 25 units a day and then this is evened out over the rest of the population.

I think OP a lot of people don't drink, a lot of people drink only at Christmas, but that people say they drink less than 14 units when they don't.

Offices are indicative, industries may well be.

School staff rooms are full of drinkers, its a very heavy culture, especially amongst older staff. I also worked I the city for 20 years. I wasn't sure I had a liver left when I left there, then I went into education and that finished it off. I'm now teetotal.

On my last night out I had 3 bottles of red wine and 9 double brandies. I didn't have a hang over, it didn't spoil Christmas or anything, I didn't do anything stupid, dangerous or daft. I woke up on Boxing Day and thought, "I don't enjoy this anymore" so I stopped. This seems to puzzle everyone else who still drinks at the same rate.

Middle aged people, especially woman, are big indoor drinkers. A little prosecco? And the bottle has gone whilst cooking, so another gets opened for the evening. But because they aren't out socially, it doesn't count on their radar. I'd say prosecco is the new 'mummies little helper' that replaced Valium.

That calculator is very odd.
I agree. I'm another very occasional drinker, I had half a bottle of cider yesterday which was my first alcoholic drink since October I think. You can't enter half a pint in, and my weekly average wouldn't make 1 drink so I can't enter meaningful information at all.
It's obviously aimed at regular drinkers but then that does make it quite odd that the OP figures so high up if occasional drinkers basically can't respond.

Never agree with statistics from sites where you can't see the raw data

Like others, I think the amount of drinking is wildly under-reported in official statistics.

I think there are other lifestyle factors too. It always strikes me how very disapproving Mumsnet users are of drinking - and that there may be a correlation here with having young children and simply lacking the opportunity/energy/cash to drink. It's generalising wildly, of course (with all the caveats that come with that), but most people I know with children have a less outgoing life in terms of far-flung travel, alcohol, and meals out than couples I know who don't.

I don't really understand why the people who only drink at Christmas drink at all. Do they get any pleasure from it?

Fluffy do you trust life expectancy estimates or do you trawl through death records?

My dh and I share a 'mini' bottle of wine with Sunday dinner and have a very occasional small glass of brandy or port in Winter. If we have guests we share a bottle of wine between 4 of us.

Polar that's done by prevalence and by data that has been validated.