Who drinks the most in Europe? How do we compare with other countries? We are slightly below the statistical average of the amount of alcohol consumed in European countries. Over the last decades, the structure of alcohol consumption in Poland has changed: women and junior high school students drink more and more.

How much is drunk in Europe?

A statistical Pole drinks 10.85 liters of pure alcohol a year. Is it a lot or a little compared to the inhabitants of other European Union countries? Slightly below average. In terms of alcohol consumption, we are ahead of other countries of the former Eastern Bloc, such as the Czech Republic (15 l), Estonia (13.36 l), and Lithuania (12.62 l). They drink more teas in Western Europe: in France (12.3 l), Germany (11.87 l), Spain (11.67 l). These figures are for legally traded alcohol. Its actual consumption is higher - it is estimated that it is 13 liters per person, but this does not change our position in the alcohol ranking. In other EU countries, the consumption of unregistered alcohol is similar.

Until 2009, when the excise duty on alcohol was increased, the consumption of alcoholic beverages increased. However, since the introduction of a higher price, it began to decline. We drink less from year to year. This is evidenced not only by the data on alcohol sales, but also by the reduction in the number of deaths related to alcohol abuse. These two indicators are always correlated with each other.

The structure of alcohol consumption has also changed. In the 1980s, as much as 70 percent. drinks were vodka and its derivatives. After 1990, we started to reach for beer and wine more and more often. The consumption of high-percentage drinks has decreased significantly and is now around 35%. all alcoholic beverages. However, we did not like wine, its consumption is decreasing. The market belongs to beer and vodka.

Effect of alcohol on cancer development

Disturbing changes: women and teenagers drink

Certainly one of the changes is the emergence of a group of young, usually single women under 35 who drink risky, manly style. They are educated, they cope well in their professional life and often hold managerial positions. The fact that teenagers are using alcohol more often is also disturbing. According to research conducted by the State Agency for Solving Alcohol Problems (PARPA), more than 2/3 of boys and more than half of girls from the 3rdjunior high school classes (15-16 years old). And what can he enjoy, apart from the decline in alcohol consumption? Pregnant women use it less often than before. This is due to campaigns aimed at raising awareness of the influence of alcohol on the development of the fetus. However, it is difficult to provide reliable data in this case. We do not know to what extent the awareness of the harmfulness of drinking alcohol actually changed the behavior of future mothers, and to what extent it contributed to dishonest declarations. Doctors do not ask and patients prefer to remain silent Only half of doctors ask pregnant women about drinking alcohol. They also rarely ask this question to the elderly. And they should. They do not realize that for a 60-year-old alcohol is incomparably more harmful than for a 40-year-old, because it decomposes much slower. In addition, it interacts with drugs (e.g. antidepressants, sleeping pills, sedatives), and people of this age often take a lot of them. The doctor should make them aware of this. In principle, he should ask everyone about drinking alcohol to assess the risk of his drinking pattern. Simple screening tests, which should be performed every 4 years, can help him. If they show that the patient is drinking hazardous or harmful, it is the doctor's job to make them aware of the harm they are drinking and to encourage them to change their drinking habits. He should also give him specific advice on how to gradually reduce his consumption. It is the cheapest and the most effective alcohol dependence prevention procedure. However, if the test result suggests that it has already happened, the doctor should refer the patient to a drug addiction clinic.

Is drinking a habit or is it only harmful?

We are prone to divide people into those who are addicted to alcohol and those who drink it normally, that is, in social terms. By making this division, we do not notice a large group of harmful drinkers. According to PARPA data, they constitute 12 percent. of our population (addicts - 2.4%). They also suffer great physical, mental and social damage related to alcohol abuse. However, most of them live unaware that they are drinking too much. Harmful drinkers are not addicted. They do not have abstinence syndrome and, above all, alcohol craving, so it is easier for them to limit their drinking. Who can help them change their alcohol consumption pattern to a less harmful one? GPs or properly trained therapists from drug addiction clinics. Some of them were prepared to work with harmful drinkers. Psychotherapy is short-lived. A few or a dozen meetings with an addiction treatment specialist is enough.

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