Posted on 08/19/2007 8:55:17 PM PDT by neverdem
LONDON (AP) Last call at a British pub can be like a contact sport, with a crush of drunken customers suddenly heaving toward the bar in search of one last round.
It's a hallowed British tradition, and doctors say an increasingly dangerous one.
Britain's taste for binge drinking, driven by a pub culture in which a good night out means packing in as many pints as possible before the traditional 11 p.m. closing time, could lead to a liver-disease epidemic within two decades unless Britons learn to drink more responsibly, authorities warned.
"There's been a frightening increase in alcoholic liver disease in recent years," said Dr. Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians.
Deaths from cirrhosis in Britain increased dramatically over the past two decades, while they fell steadily everywhere else in the Western world, according to government statistics.
In England and Wales, 17.5 deaths of every 100,000 men were due to cirrhosis in 2002, up from 8.3 in 1987. And in Scotland, the increase was even more dramatic: 16.9 cirrhosis deaths per every 100,000 men in 1987, up to 45.2 per 100,000 in 2002. In the U.S., every nine deaths per 100,000 in 2004 was attributable to cirrhosis.
"Deaths from cirrhosis [in Britain] are increasing out of proportion with anywhere else in the world," said Dr. Rajiv Jalan, a consultant hepatologist at London's University College Hospital.
Cheaper, more accessible alcohol is partly to blame.
Binge drinking in the European Union is highest in Ireland, Finland, Britain and Denmark, according to an EU survey published in March. The survey also found that almost one in five Europeans between the ages of 15 and 24 drink more than five alcoholic drinks in one sitting.
While other European countries also consume large amounts of alcohol, cultural differences might explain...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Bottoms up?
Make em’ comfortable for the trip out...
Eh, no doubt the drinking is already adding to their waistline. The nations with the fastest rising obesity rates in Europe are—you guessed it—the ones with the fastest rise in alcohol consumption.
Lovely think to drink in excess, really. Ramps up your body’s estrogen supply due to slowing down the liver and leaves a man with a nice set of breasts. :)
The average Brit consumes up to 23.5 drinks per week in certain regions. Your average American? 4.5.
Thanks for the link.
He just favored the local brewers over the imported "Geneva spirits" . . . . everybody's doing well but the pawnbroker.
We now have extended hours a lot of pubs are open to 2 or 3 in the morning at least 3 or 4 times a week so the article is not exactly truthful.
Pubs have the option of closing during the day, most drinking pubs do those that are thought of as more food pubs tend to open all day.
On the other hand, alcohol consumption in France and Italy is at least as high, yet liver disease is uncommon. Perhaps someone could explain that.
Dose rate?
You're quite welcome. Here's a Wickipedia (I know) link with some good background information about the Hogarths prints (I see AnAmericanMother has provided "Beer Street").
Choice of drink as well. Liquor is death on the liver. Today’s college kids drink more liquor than you can imagine. If they can buy beer, they can buy liquor so they do a lot of shots in the bars. When I was in school, we could buy beer at 18 so we never developed a real taste for liquor. Bars serving liquor were very rare back then.
To paraphrase Casey Stengle....”Any bum dat can’t get drunk by 11:00 ain’t tryin!!”
I took a look at your profile page. You should waggle that over at Democratic Underground. Numerous heart attacks, strokes, and freak-outs would ensue.
:o)
And 99,982.5 deaths were not due to cirrhosis.
Cheaper, more accessible alcohol is partly to blame.
And as always, their answer is higher taxes.
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