How can europeans drink so much

We trawled the lounge for abandoned cans. I can still taste the stale, metallic tang of Heineken on my tongue. Just mind the ones with cigarette butts in. But it was at university that booze and I became properly acquainted. My memory of my first week is of social anxiety offset by cheap alcohol — a harbinger of the next four years.

At one ball, I drank so much free wine that I vomited the stud out of my nose and down the sink. But that was how it was: sometimes you were the one bundling people into a taxi, sometimes you were the one being bundled. When I looked into the numbers, I realised that it was. I discovered that was Peak Booze: the year when Brits drank more than they had done for a century, and more than they have done in the decade since. Leading the way to this alcoholic apogee were those of us born around No other generation drank so much in their early 20s.

Why us? Everyone in alcohol research knows the graph. It plots the change in annual consumption of alcohol in the UK, calculated in litres of pure alcohol per person. None of us drinks pure alcohol, thankfully; one litre of pure alcohol is equivalent to 35 pints of strong beer.

In , Brits drank an average of 3. Look to the right and at first the line barely rises. Then, in , it begins to creep upward. The climb becomes steadier during the s. The upward trajectory ends in , but that turns out to be temporary. By the late s consumption is rising rapidly again. Come Peak Booze, in , we were drinking 9. They told me how everything from recessions to marketing to sexism has shaped the way the British drink.

This is the story of that research, and of what it tells us about the ascent to Peak Booze. It begins more than half a century ago, in the pub. During the late s, a group of observers set out to record what went on in British pubs.

And, of course, drinking. In post-war Britain, much of the drinking took place in pubs. It was mainly men that drank there, generally beer. But, says the UEG, the vast majority of Europeans are unaware of the link between alcohol and cancer. In response to the findings, it is calling for better education and more responsible pricing. Research then has to follow to help generate data and allow us to fine-tune future political activity," he said.

Although the UEG classes between one and four drinks per day as 'moderate' drinking, it is keen to stress the link between this level of consumption and a heightened risk of pancreatic, liver and gastric cancers. In the World Health Organisation found that nearly one in every 20 deaths globally were caused by alcohol consumption, and predicted a rise in cancers from 14 million to almost 22 million cases between and Europe, the UEG found, has the highest proportion of alcohol related illnesses and deaths.

And the world's heaviest drinkers are Europeans How many is too many? Photo: Gabriel Gurrola on Unsplash. Read and decide Join EUobserver today Become an expert on Europe Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. Then this plan is for you. Don't miss out on Our exclusive news stories and investigations. Why join? Already a member? Login here. The WHO report also reveals that such heavy episodic drinking is a problem in Europe.

Brussels says Europeans back anti-alcohol moves Mar , Slightly more Europeans drink alcohol but in less amounts than in the past, according to a fresh survey. Brussels waters down EU strategy against alcohol abuse Start your Independent Premium subscription today. More about Alcohol Biology Genetics Brain. Already subscribed? Log in.