GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The WHO’s report on harmful drinking and health policies issued yesterday was widely picked up by the drinks media, with some of the reporting likely to cause panic where it’s not really necessary. The definition of “heavy episodic drinking”, particularly harmful, was reported by The Drinks Business, for example, as
“The report also said 16% of drinkers worldwide now engage in “heavy episodic drinking”, defined in the report as six units of alcohol consumed “on at least one single occasion at least monthly” – roughly two to three glasses of wine.”
Hang on, here’s what the WHO report actually says, and by my Swiss standards, it’s not 2-3 glasses of wine, although back when I live in the US, it would have been:
“Heavy episodic drinking (HED) is an indicator of the pattern of alcohol consumption (defined as 60 or more grams of pure alcohol on at least one single occasion at least monthly, see Box 1 in Chapter 1, which varies widely between countries.”
60 grams of 12% wine is 60ml, and a standard bottle of wine in Switzerland and the EU is 75ml, although some are 70ml. So ask yourself if you drink most of a bottle of wine in one sitting once a month and you’ll know if you’re what the WHO considers a heavy episodic drinker who is running health risks – which isn’t the same as saying you’re an alcoholic, but is worth some reflection if you want to be a responsible drinker.
Keep in mind that the WHO writes about this in the context of overall drinking patterns and they’re talking about overall health; if you’re worried, take the time to read this part of the report, in its context (starting on page 34 of the WHO study).
Standard drinks guide: know how much alcohol you’re consuming
The New Zealand HPA, Health Promotion Agency, provides one of the easiest ways of calculating this, avoiding the bugaboo phrase of “a glass of wine”, which means different things to different people.
“The standard drinks measure is a simple way for you to work out how much alcohol you are drinking. It measures the amount of pure alcohol in a drink. One standard drink equals 10 grams of pure alcohol.
Have a look at the Guide to Standard Drinks. It shows you how many standard drinks there are in some common types of alcohol.
To work out the number of standard drinks in what you are drinking use this formula:
Amount of drink in litres (Vol) x Percent by volume of alcohol (%) x Density of ethanol at room temperature (0.789)
Example:
500ml of beer which is 5 percent alcohol by volume.
0.5 x 5 x 0.789 = 1.97 (approx 2 standard drinks)”
For more on standard drinks, see their special section on this. Even easier, look at their visual standard drinks chart. Here’s just part of it:
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