Did anybody see the Panaroma about binge drinking last night?

[Orangelight23]

Real eye opener for me. Women in their 30s being diagnosed with liver disease. I must admit I have myself been drawn into wine culture and drinking wine to relax.

It's made me have a real think about my alcohol intake to be honest.

I wonder if it's a bit like "five bits of fruit and veg a day" - in that what the government recommends is what they think is realistic, rather than what's ideal.

Thanks for this. I'm a using alcoholic - have done rehab, AA, all my steps, a year teetotal, and now drink 'normally'. It's irrational of me, but it's what I wanted to achieve. Still have to watch my intake, obviously, and don't drink regularly. I've had loads of liver function tests, scans, the lot - and it's fine, thank goodness.

The human body has four enzymes that metabolise alcohol. These enzymes can cause organ damage if they go out of balance. Variable proportions of the enzymes are available to each person, according to their genes. Some people have very few of these enzymes (common in South Asians, for instance) while some have plenty of all four in a good balance (common in Germanic people). This is probably why ancient Asians sanitised their drinking water by brewing tea, while Europeans brewed beer instead.

There must be some test to establish your genetic alcohol tolerance but, in any case, you'll be more susceptible to getting ugly drunk and bad hangovers if you aren't built for booze. The obvious takeaway from this is STILL that it's best not to drink alcohol, or to drink very sparingly, but it's interesting that outcomes are not uniform because people are different.

Yeah good point. That may explain the Spanish units too!

Like many people I drank too much occasionally when younger but stopped when it became clear that it triggered my migraines and made them significantly worse. It's a weird silver lining to a horrible condition. I'm still interested in watching this show though, DCs are approaching the age where alcohol might become a problem, although I hope we've set them a good example.

I'm curious though. My DPs like a glass of wine with their dinner 2-3 times a week. The interesting thing is that they still use wine glasses they were given as wedding presents in the early 70's - honestly they're no bigger than today's sherry glasses. I wonder if the larger glasses sold as standard now have fuelled the binge drinking culture?

Yes, two bottles of wine a week can damage your health. It’s more than your recommended weekly units.

Probably - a bit like how plates are bigger these days too, and portions in fast food restaurants.

There's a guy on TikTok who compares sizes between US and UK branches of different fast food chains and it's fascinating. Our "small" is often the same as their child portion, for example, and their "large" can be almost twice the size of ours!

I read the news story about the lady who investigated for it! I was really shocked.

I am 34 and in my northern Town (I mention this as idk if it makes a difference, there wasn’t much to do…) and as a teen and early 20s heavy drinking once you were 18 was very much the norm.

I wasn’t the out every weekend type but I did get involved.

The level of damage will definitely be dictated by your overall health and genetics but we do have a culture problem I’d say in this country. Pretty much adult celebratory event is geared around alcohol.

Apparently gen z drink a lot less than millennials did in our teens and 20s ? Thank god!

I used to drink a lot in my teens and twenties. Far too much. I barely drink now I'm into my 40's as it just makes me feel rough. I do have other vices though.
In my circle of friends, family and colleagues I would say that most of them drink above the recommended amount every week. Its seen as normal. No one bats an eyelid
I do know two women in my year at school who have died from alcohol related illnesses in the last 10 years though.
Having said that my in laws are alcoholics and in their 70's. I've known them for about 28 years and they have both drunk up to two bottles of wine every night amongst other things every single night and they are still going. It's been like this for far longer than 28 years. They do have health problems but not liver strangely!

A family member was an alcoholic who drowned. At his autopsy his liver was remarkably normal! It’s no guarantee of liver disease but increases your risk.

Young people still drink lots . I have two young adult DC and they and their friends drink at most social gatherings.

Just adding there is a very active thread in alcohol support. Started in 2020.

FWIW in the last two years I've lost two friends and my younger brother to alcohol related deaths. 54, 60 & 62.

I gave up drinking three years ago. I was on the brink of losing my family. I was a social drinker, a happy drunk until I wasn't. It is a poison hence why it's 'cut' with water. A sobering thought.

This is interesting thank you. Just what I’ve seen in news articles! Nothing to base it on yet as DSC are 13 & 14!

Huge well done to you. From seeing family members struggle I’ve seen how hard it is

That's fine.
But do you have children who may be devastated if your good time deprives them of a parent when they are still young?

So true
I recently went to an NHS hospital appointment
They took my history
Zero alcohol and proceeded to ask ME if I had an issue with alcohol
Bizarre thinking
I don't do Heroin either, does that make me a Heroin addict😂
Too old and tired to drink these days

@Lanzarotelady it's not pearl clutching. How rude and disrespectful to children whose lives have been wrecked by parental consumption of alcohol.

Absolutely this!!

People who crack open a bottle of something as soon as they wake up, walk down the street sipping a can.

This is in essence the UK’s problem. People think an ‘alcoholic’ is a bloke on a park bench drinking cans of strong cider. Not realising that middle aged woman with their wine o clocks are risking their health too.

Stuff like this makes out that any drop of wine is likely to result in your hideous death in a matter of months.

Please show me who has said this here.

I think it's quite telling that those of us with personal experience of alcoholism are generally the ones saying how damaging it can be.

As with everything, it's all about balance. I don't drink much, an odd one here and there. And I exercise lots. But I love sweets and butter and eat too much of them both.

There's little point in being pious about alcohol consumption in isolation.

If they go to uni, the social life is still heavily based around drinking.

I thought it was widely known that there was no scientific or medical evidence behind the 14 units, just that it was more of a pick a number- as you say, other countries chose other numbers

ive reduced my drinking a lot over the last free years and the biggest thing for me was swapping wine and beer/ cider for cocktails. Using drink aware it’s easier to see how much fewer units you consume drinking spirits rather than wine which is generally consumed in much bigger quantities.
even on a big night out with friends 3 cocktails (like martini or negroni) will do me just fine- max 6 units. The fear of hard spirits is quite unfounded imo.

it’s also widely known that alcohol is primarily a problem for the mumsnet generation and younger people have hugely reduced, the way we reduced smoking from our parents generation. In that respect the navel glazing about British culture is outdated.

I can recognise fellow doctors in this thread by the nature of their posts. When you have seen someone die in their forties, vomiting torrential floods of blood from oesophageal varices, it does change your view on drinking a bit.

I'm a habitual drinker of very weak (10.5% alcohol) wine. I have a mild hangover each day but can shrug it off.

I have a group of extrovert friends that "only drink at weekends", but by that I mean drinking from about 9pm on a Friday until about 4am, repeat on Saturday etc.

They literally don't "appear" until about Wednesday of the following week.

I'm not sure which is worse. We're all in our 50s with good jobs.

I read this a lot. But from my experience of having kids at university, the drinking culture there does not seem that different now to when I went to university in the 90s. I guess the stats must be true overall though.