This fact file will help you to understand the full extent of health problems arising from alcohol.
Many people are not fully aware of the extent of the health problems arising from alcohol.
Many people misunderstand the relationship between alcohol and reduced risk of heart disease.
Many people think that wine doesn’t cause health problems and that instead wine protects against heart disease.
1. Alcohol causes nearly 1 in 10 of all ill-health and premature death in Europe The World Health Organization’s Global Burden of Disease Study finds that alcohol is the third most important risk factor, after smoking and raised blood pressure, for European ill-health and premature death . Alcohol is more important than high cholesterol levels and overweight, three times more important than diabetes and five times more important than asthma. It causes nearly 1 in 10 of all ill-health and premature death in Europe.
2. The more a country drinks, the greater the harm from alcohol The European Comparative Alcohol Study, financed by the European Commission, finds that as a country’s alcohol consumption goes up and down, the harm done by alcohol goes up and down in parallel . This applies to all European countries. Further, the higher the alcohol consumption of a country, the greater the harm from alcohol . With the exception of Ireland, which has had an unprecedented and very recent rise in alcohol consumption, the top four European countries in alcohol consumption during the second half of the 1990s were Portugal, France, Germany and Austria. These, along with Italy were among the top five countries with deaths from cirrhosis of the liver, a sensitive indicator of the harm done by alcohol.
3. The more an individual drinks, the greater the risk of harm For all types of alcohol-related harm, including cancers, cardiovascular diseases and cirrhosis of the liver, the more an individual drinks, the greater the risk of harm . The annual risk of death from alcohol related cancers (mouth, gullet, throat and liver) increases from 14 per 100,000 for non-drinking middle-aged men to 50 per 100,000 at 4 or more drinks (4 glasses of wine) a day. The risk of breast cancer by age 80 years increases from 88 per 1000 non-drinking women to 133 per 1000 at 6 drinks (a bottle of wine) a day.
4. Although a small amount of alcohol may reduce the risk of a heart attack, for many drinkers alcohol actually increases the risk of heart disease One drink every second day gives almost all the protection that alcohol has on reducing the risk of a heart attack . Above two drinks a day the risk of death from heart disease goes up, with the more alcohol drunk, the greater the risk.
5. Whether consumed as wine, beer and spirits, it is alcohol that matters. A glass of wine, 250ml of ordinary strength beer and a single measure of spirits are all equal in their impact on health4. The biochemical changes that might reduce the risk of heart disease result equally from beer, wine or spirits ; they do not result from grape juice or wine from which the alcohol has been removed .
