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UK consuming 12m more bottles of wine per week than previously thought

Published:  22 May, 2015

According to a new research conducted by the journal BMC Medicine 12 million more bottles of wine are consumed per week in England than previously thought.

The findings identified that people often not include what they are drinking while on holidays and special occasions as a major reason for the discrepancy in the data.

Mark Bellis a professor from Liverpool John Moores University and Bangor University and the lead author of the study said: "In England, there is a huge difference between what surveys report is consumed and how much alcohol is sold. Every week, the equivalent of over three quarters of a bottle of wine per drinker goes unaccounted for. The problem is that surveys usually ask about typical drinking. This means summer holidays, bank holidays, weddings and many other special occasions when consumption often increases are left out."

Often the data collected is selective of average consumption, but for example in the case of England this type of "survey data accounts for only about 60% of alcohol sales."

The research included over 6,000 randomly selected telephone interviews from people across England, of which 4,604 people reported currently drinking.

Those between the ages of 25-34 years old saw the largest spike in drinking during holidays or special occasions. The age group also had the highest level of typical consumption overall. This group of drinkers increases on average 18 more units of alcohol per week due to special occasion drinking.

The research which focused on investigating drinking patterns and how they might differ during holidays and special occasions was conducted in an effort to get a more accurate picture of the data around alcohol consumption.

As result of the research it is clear that "nationally we underestimate how much we drink and as individuals we can turn a blind eye to our heavier drinking periods when we calculate personal consumption. For many people though these sessions add substantial amounts of alcohol to their annual consumption and inevitably increase their risks of developing alcohol related ill health" said Bellis.

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