Tracit: Alcoholic beverages should be an essential good 1:32
(CNN) --
You consider yourself a light to moderate drinker, having the occasional cocktail or glass of wine with dinner and only having a few extra drinks at weekend socials.
In most cases, you would be right, as alcohol consumption is usually calculated as an average over the week.
"This leads many drinkers to mistakenly assume that an average level of moderate drinking is safe, regardless of drinking pattern," says Rudolf Moos, emeritus professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, in a release.
Moos is the co-author of a recent study that found that many moderate drinkers over the age of 30 end up bingeing on the weekend, defined as five or more drinks in a row or within a short period of time.
People who binge were about five times more likely to experience multiple alcohol problems, such as "harming themselves, having emotional or psychological problems from alcohol, having to consume more alcohol to get the same effect, and experiencing the effects of alcohol at work, school, or child care," study co-author Charles Holahan, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, said in an email.
"What this means is that an individual whose total consumption is seven drinks on a Saturday night has a higher risk profile than someone whose total consumption is one drink a day with dinner, even though their average level of consumption is the same." Holahan said.
Excessive alcohol use in adults
Most of the previous research on binge drinking has focused on younger generations, typically teenagers and college students.
The consumption of several drinks in a short period is very widespread in this segment of the population.
But statistics show that many adults over the age of 30 binge, and that the problem is on the rise, especially among women and adults over 65.
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However, levels of heavy drinking among adults may escape "public health scrutiny, because it occurs among individuals who drink at a moderate average level," Holahan said.
"Women are especially sensitive to the effects of alcohol, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Alcohol-related problems appear earlier and at lower levels of consumption than in men. men, according to the NIAAA.
The pandemic may have created a nation of problem drinkers, and women are among the hardest hit
Women are more susceptible to alcohol-related brain damage and heart disease than men, and studies show that women who have one drink a day increase their risk of breast cancer by 5% to 9% compared with women who abstain.
For both men and women over 65, the increase "is especially concerning because many older adults use medications that can interact with alcohol, have health problems that can be aggravated by alcohol, and may be more susceptible to falls and other accidental alcohol-related injuries," the NIAAA stated.
An overlooked pattern
The new study, published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, used data from a survey conducted as part of the "Midlife Development in the United States" study, which has followed a National sample of Americans ages 25-74 since 1995.
The study looked at nearly 1,300 drinkers over nine years and found that most cases of binge drinking, and multiple drinking problems, were among average moderate drinkers.
"An average moderate drinker of, say, one drink a day might hit that average with one drink a day with dinner or seven drinks on Saturday night," Holahan said.
The most popular alcoholic beverages in the US, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina
Although such behavior would not necessarily lead to alcoholism, Holahan said, the study found that drinking an average of more than one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men, or five or more drinks on the same occasion, it was linked to alcohol problems nine years later.
"These results point to the need for alcohol interventions targeting medium-moderate drinkers, in addition to conventional strategies targeting the higher-risk but smaller population of heavy habitual drinkers," Holahan said. .
Is your alcohol consumption a problem?
How do you know if alcohol consumption has become a problem?
A telltale sign, experts say, is when drinking begins to interfere with your ability to carry on with your daily life.
"Alcohol use disorder is defined as the compulsive use of alcohol despite the negative consequences of its use, such as the impact on your relationships, your ability to function at your job, or in any role you have in your community," Dr. Sarah Wakeman, medical director of the Substance Use Disorders Initiative at Mass General Brigham, told CNN in a previous interview.
Be careful if you continue to drink despite negative impacts on your physical or mental health.
And it doesn't have to be just missing work or going to work hungover, said Dr. Leena Mittal, chief of the Division of Women's Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
"Don't forget about relationships. Do you have more disagreements? Do people in your life express concern or notice that you are different? Hiding the drink or lying about it are also concerning behaviors," Mittal said.
This is a red flag: you pour yourself big drinks without realizing it.
Current guidelines from the American Heart Association recommend no more than two standard drinks a day for men and one for women and those 65 and older.
What is a standard drink?
That's 12 ounces or 354 ml of regular beer, 4 ounces or 118 ml of regular wine, or 1.5 ounces 44 ml of liquor, by US standards.
"However, people can pour themselves a huge glass of wine and not realize that it's actually two or three servings of wine and not just one," Wakeman said.
"We know that millions of Americans drink above those levels, even in pre-pandemic times," Wakeman said.
"In 2019, some 66 million Americans had episodes in which they drank above those recommended limits."
If you (or a loved one) seem to be struggling with alcohol, don't hesitate to ask for help, experts stress.
There are many different support groups that can help, such as 12-step programs and individual therapy.
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