British women have moved closer to the top of a new ‘European drunken league’, raising concerns that warnings about the health harms of alcohol are being ignored.
Current NHS guidelines recommend no more than six drinks per week, and this amount is spread over seven days.
However, a quarter of women in the UK admitted to regularly consuming this amount or more in a single sitting, defined as “episodic binge drinking” in a new report.
Only Danish women were more likely to drink alcoholshowed research from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
While 45 per cent of British men admitted to drinking regularly, they came fifth in the league behind Romania, Denmark, Finland and Luxembourg.
This meant that the UK came third overall in the list of drinkers.
Even more worrying, among those under 15, British teenage girls were found to drink more than almost all of their European peers.
A surprising number in ten (12 per cent) of 13-year-old girls in the UK confessed to having been drunk “at least twice”. even though the legal drinking age is 18 years old.
Only young Bulgarian women fared worse: 14 percent reported binge eating.
By comparison, nine per cent of British children of the same age said the same.
Meanwhile, three percent of 11-year-old boys and two percent of girls the same age admitted to drinking.
Studies have shown that teens who drink excessively are less likely to do well in school and more likely to develop alcohol dependence later in life.
Commenting on the results, experts warned that beverage companies were “heavily targeting” young women, in particular with ads that “present alcohol consumption as a feminine practice.”
The study looked at the drinking habits of adults in 38 countries and found that adults in Turkey drank the least: only one percent of women and five percent of men binged regularly.
Talking to him TimesProfessor Sir Ian Gilmore, president of the Alcohol Health Alliance UK, said alcohol use among girls was “a real cause for concern”.
In 2022 (the most recent year for which figures are available), the rate of premature deaths from alcohol-related liver disease in women was 6.5 per 100,000 people under 75 years of age, higher than the rate for men .
British women have moved closer to the top of a new European “drinking league”, raising concerns that warnings about the health harms of alcohol are being ignored.
That year, 3,929 women died prematurely from liver disease, an increase over the past 20 years.
Professor Gilmour added: “Although it is unclear what exactly is driving this trend, changing cultural norms and cleverly targeted marketing campaigns are likely to play a role.”
Dr. Katherine Severi, executive director of the Institute for Alcohol Studies, said any level of Underage drinking was harmful.
Speaking to The Times, he said: “There is still a widespread belief that parents should introduce alcohol to their children to teach them how to drink.”
‘However, research shows that the earlier a child starts drinking, the more likely they are to develop alcohol-related problems in the future.
“That’s why it’s so important to delay the onset of alcohol consumption for as long as possible.”
The NHS recommends that people drink no more than 14 units of alcohol per week (the equivalent of six pints of beer or six medium glasses of wine) spread over at least three days.
In the UK, those under 18 cannot legally purchase alcohol; However, those 16 and older can drink (but not purchase) beer, wine or cider with a meal, if accompanied by an adult.
The NHS recommends that people drink no more than 14 “units” of alcohol (around six glasses of wine or pints of beer) per week.
However, official health guidelines state that “children under 15 years of age should not drink alcohol” due to the damage it causes to developing organs and bones.
Meanwhile, along with liver damage, excessive alcohol consumption has been linked to an increased risk of a variety of cancers, including breast, head and neck, and digestive system cancers, including bowel cancer.
The OECD suggested that the UK’s less fair attitude towards alcohol legislation was part of the problem.
The report states: ‘Excessive alcohol consumption is a particularly harmful pattern of alcohol consumption.
‘To address the substantial burden of alcohol-related harm, EU countries have implemented several policies and interventions aimed at reducing consumption and promoting responsible drinking.
‘These include taxes, availability restrictions and advertising regulations.
“However, the effectiveness of these measures is often limited by inadequate implementation, resource limitations and industry resistance.”