Am I drinking too much? Benchmarks for assessing consumption and taking action

Dry January forces you to see with a new eye, more soberly, the cases when a person toasts as much as he fights. Dinner parties, end-of-day drinks to decompress, anthology nights… You realize it’s very easy to consume alcohol on a regular basis. So how do you achieve the famous moderation? How to correctly analyze your alcohol consumption? What? “red flags” what to warn and how to prevent problem consumption? Michael Naassila (1), president of the French Society of Alcoholism and neurobiologist of alcohol dependence at Inserm, provides the keys to better identification.

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Watch out for portions at home

According to the 2020 Public Health France barometer, 23.7% of the population aged 18 to 75 exceed the threshold currently recommended by health authorities of 10 cups per week, with a maximum of 2 cups per day and not every day.

But exactly what volume and what kind of liquid are we talking about? Practically every beer, wine or spirit contains a different volume of pure alcohol (ethanol) per 100 ml of drink. The latter is indicated in degrees on the label of the bottle. And the higher the degree, the more concentrated the drink is in ethanol.

“Sanitary recommendations are based on a standard drink served in a bar or restaurant. It contains 10 grams of pure alcohol,” says Mikael Naasila. But pay attention to the doses used. for the same amount of pure alcohol, the volume varies depending on the drink (beer, wine, whiskey, etc.). Thus, half a beer (25 cl) at 5°C is equivalent to a bottle of wine (10 cl) at 12°C, a glass of champagne (10 cl) at 12°C and a glass of whiskey (2. 5). (c) at 40°C.

Outside of bars and restaurants, we are not always aware of these funds and we can exceed the recommended limit very quickly. “A stout beer bought in the supermarket, such as a 50ml bottle at 8.6°C, is actually equivalent to three pints, which is one glass more than current recommendations. The same when serving wine to the table. people generally have heavier hands,” says the president of the French Society of Alcoholism. In this matter, the expert favors the use of a measuring cup to respect the above portions of the bartender. You can easily find calculators online for cocktails or other drinks of varying degrees of alcohol.

Pay attention to your consumption on weekends

Some of us skip the booze on weekdays, preferring to enjoy a bottle of Bordeaux with friends on the weekend. If the initiative is commendable, be careful not to reach your weekly quota during the evening. The two-drink-a-day limit still applies, even on weekends. All the more so that heavy sometimes alcoholism, which is more often called drinking too much , remains a more harmful consumption for the body, says Mikael Naasila. “With 6 to 7 glasses, we will brutally attack his liver and brain, which can cause harmful inflammatory processes,” says the specialist. What if this? drinking too much repeated more than twice a month, it multiplies the risk of alcohol addiction by 3.

6 to 7 cups we will be brutally attacking his liver and brain

Michael Naasila, Professor of Physiology at the University of Picardy and Alcohol Dependence Neurobiologist at Inserm

Let us remind you that alcohol consumption is never dangerous, regardless of how much is consumed. At the beginning of January, the World Health Organization reminded us. “Alcohol is a toxic, psychoactive substance that causes addiction and has been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer for nearly ten years. Alcohol causes at least seven types of cancer, the most common of which are colon and breast cancer in women. Not forgetting that “any alcohol use is also associated with the risk of cardiovascular and digestive pathologies,” adds Michael Naasila.

Harmful causes of consumption

When ordering at a bar, or when our host invites us to raise our glass, it’s wise to question his motive for charging. According to the Public Health France 2017 barometer, almost one in two French people believe that offering or drinking alcohol is “part of good manners”. The president of the French Society of Alcoholism regrets the false and harmful idea. According to him, it is urgent to get away from this ritualization and harmful patterns of consumption. “If I had trouble giving up drinking, if I drink alcohol and increase the amounts for intoxication, sedation and/or more socializing, this should alert us and invite us to moderate,” the president concluded. French Society of Alcoholism.

If: drinking too much repeated more than twice a month, it multiplies the risk of alcohol dependence by 3 times

Michael Naasila

Observe the effect on the body and listen to yourself

Disappointing tomorrows, or hangovers, are also a signal of potentially problematic consumption. If you wake up with a headache, nausea, and feeling very sick, chances are you’ve had one too many drinks. The sensitivity to alcohol varies from person to person and in some situations it is not necessary to exceed the permitted limit to feel bad the next day, reports Mikael Naasila.

In some individuals, the effects can be felt for days afterward and disrupt their daily life. “Sleep helps to strengthen memory, and alcohol weakens its structure, confirms the specialist. As a result, we sleep and recover less. And it affects our cognitive functions during the day, we find it difficult to pay attention and concentrate. The more we drink, the more long-term the effects will be.” So one motto: listen to each other.

(1) Mikael Naasila is also Professor of Physiology at the Jules Verne University of Picard.

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