Does drinking a bottle of wine every night make you an alcoholic?

[LyraSilvertongue]

I ask because I was having a conversation about drink with a (male) colleague and he says he drinks a bottle a night. I was a bit . He's quite small, shorter than me, so the men can drink more thing doesn't really apply. Do you think he's addicted?

Monkey,
In defense of relatevising it, it is on record that one of the guys on the board responsible for setting the unit limits, later admitted that it was purely an 'educated guess'. It was based on nothing more than that. (I've actually seen the footage of him admitting this!)

and actually, I don't think anyone has done that on this thread, I just wanted to point that out...

It is widely known that 'units' are not actually based on anything scientific. They were created as a guideline for the masses.

It is actually based on the following equation - mlxABV/1000.

But as noone does that (come on, do you?) then they just round it up, to a measure of spirit being 1 unit.

However, lets compare say, Archers and Absinthe.
A 25ml measure of Archers would equate to only 0.6 of a unit, whereas a 25ml measure of Absinthe, would be 1.6 units.

Yet they are both classed as one unit.

Oh my god DSM, you have just gone from being Dirty Sexy Mummy in my imagination to bearded, stooping, professor with spectacles and a while coat

Point well made though, I hasten to add...

whITE coat

are you in the music industry dsm? ive er 'worked' in the music industry of sorts and the amounts youve quoted dont seem excessive to me. theyd knock me on my arse in about 3 seconds these days... lol

gerbra - I promise, I do not look how you sounded! But I hold a liquor license and know these random facts.. normally useless, however, occasionally comes in handy

And boyz - yes

How you sounded?

Clearly, I meant how you described.

I didn't think so

and how much do i want to be sitting on the roof at pacha right now? thinking about popping down the road to the mezzanine (via my time machine obv as twas only short lived) [sigh]

Pacha Ibiza?

yup. miss it.

You'll be pleased jealous to know that I am off there in 3 weeks

yes.
whatever the amount, i think if you feel you need to take a little something everyday in order to relax, then there is a problem.

I speak from the other side of the fence, having been on "detox" due to pregnancy/BF.
I always enjoyed my wine.We would drink a bottle with dinner about every other day.I becomes a habit before you know it.

I have nothing against indulging and will certainly do the minute I stop BF.
But limiting alcohol definitely boosts energy levels and somehow forces you to find ways to relax in every little occasion of the day/evening (in a bath, with a book, playing cards,talking etc,,,).
I find alcohol every night, even in small amounts isolates you in a mood of your own.You just feel like you want the kids in bed so that you can sit down with that well deserved drink. does not feel right.

Oh of course, I forgot, leaves more time and energy for sex

Can he go without alcohol for a day/week/month without being bothered about it? Can he have just one or two glasses of wine and be ok about not having any more?

The generic advise is "If you think you have a problem, then you probably have".

Have you tried talking to your male friend? If he is defensive, then he is likely to be aware that he is drinking too much already. You could offer to help him, but it's got to be his own choice....

Pregnantpenguin, I don't know. I can't really ask him these questions. He's a colleague rather than a friend so I'm not really the one to 'help' him, if he needs it.

Does anyone know what the statistics for liver disease in France is? My ILs are definitely not alchoholics, but they do drink, as do many people in their region of their age, an aperarif + 3 glasses of wine (very small glasses) with lunch and dinner everyday. If they go out, they will drink more than that. Definitely not excessive, but it is a daily thing. Just curious.

Have you tried talking to your male friend? If he is defensive, then he is likely to be aware that he is drinking too much already. You could offer to help him, but it's got to be his own choice....

I would be offended if a colleague tried to talk to me about my drinking, tbh, PP, unless it was affecting my performance at work.

And I don't even drink!

Why?

Because unless it is affecting one's work it is no one's business what a person does in his/her spare time so long as it is not illegal.

Trust the government?

You've got to be joking, MT!

Those people can't organise a piss up in a brewery.

This seems to have really touched a nerve with you, as Piffle pointed out earlier.

Any particular reason why?

some people are more affected by alcohol than others but you have no way of knowing who that is

if any individual is uncomfortable with their alcohol or cant not drink they may be an alcoholic

i reckon that people know if they have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol

they just very often dont want to admit it

but as to judging someone else it just isnt worth going there really

though i do agree that as a society/community it is soemthing worth looking at

I think it's worthwhile to work on why so many feel they need to turn to booze to cope with life.

But no one in government is really interested in doing that because it's going to bring some very inconvenient truths out in the open.

Expat/Lyra - I thought that you had set up this thread because you were worried about him and were planning on talking to him. Sorry if I misunderstood.

its quick and easy and cheap basically

Lots of stats here apmhealtheurope.com/story.php?mots=HEPATITIS&searchScope=1&searchType=0&depsPage=8&numero=L1047

LONDON, Jan 5 (APM) - Britain has seen the biggest rise in mortality from liver cirrhosis in western Europe following a two-fold rise in UK alcohol consumption over the past 50 years, a report in The Lancet reveals.

Within the UK, Scotland now has one of the highest cirrhosis death rates in western Europe, at 45.2 per 100,000 in men and 19.9 per 100,000 in women, says the report, written by Professor David Leon of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Dr. Jim McCambridge of King's College, London.

They based their findings on data of 14 countries from the World Health Organisation mortality database.

Although many European countries still have higher cirrhosis death rates than the UK, the authors stress that these countries' rates are going down whereas the UK rates have "risen steeply and are now on a par or have exceeded the western European average".

In absolute terms, Austria has the highest cirrhosis death rate in western Europe at 43.5 men per 100,000 population. That compares with England and Wales (14.1), France (28.1) Germany (33.6), Italy (26.5), Spain (25.1) and Sweden (13.5).