If your pattern of drinking results in repeated significant distress and problems functioning in your daily life, you likely have alcohol use disorder. However, even a mild disorder can escalate and lead to serious problems, so early treatment is important. Alcohol use disorder is a pattern of alcohol use that involves problems controlling your drinking, being preoccupied with alcohol or continuing to use alcohol even when it causes problems. This disorder also involves having to drink more to get the same effect or having withdrawal symptoms when you rapidly decrease or stop drinking.
- However, latest available data indicate that half of all alcohol-attributable cancers in the WHO European Region are caused by “light” and “moderate” alcohol consumption – less than 1.5 litres of wine or less than 3.5 litres of beer or less than 450 millilitres of spirits per week.
- “So, when we talk about possible so-called safer levels of alcohol consumption or about its protective effects, we are ignoring the bigger picture of alcohol harm in our Region and the world.
- Alcohol use disorder is a pattern of alcohol use that involves problems controlling your drinking, being preoccupied with alcohol or continuing to use alcohol even when it causes problems.
- Alcohol causes at least seven types of cancer, including the most common cancer types, such as bowel cancer and female breast cancer.
Risk factors
For women, more than three drinks on any day or more than seven drinks a week is heavy drinking. For men, heavy drinking means more than four drinks on any day or more than 14 drinks a week. In the United States, moderate drinking for healthy adults is different for men and women. It means on days when a person does drink, women do not have more than one drink and men do not have more than two drinks. In 2019, 38% of current drinkers had engaged in heavy episodic drinking, defined as consuming at least 60g of pure alcohol on one or more occasions in the preceding month – roughly equivalent to 4 or 5 glasses of wine, bottles of beer or servings of spirits. Too much alcohol affects your speech, muscle coordination and vital centers of your brain.
Alcohol consumption contributes to 2.6 million deaths each year globally as well as to the disabilities and poor health of millions of people. Overall, harmful use of alcohol is responsible for 4.7% of the global burden of disease. The death rates due to alcohol consumption per litre of alcohol consumed are highest in low-income countries and lowest in high-income countries.
- The highest levels of per capita consumption in 2019 were observed in the WHO European Region (9.2 litres) and the Region of Americas (7.5 litres).
- Disadvantaged and vulnerable populations have higher rates of alcohol-related death and hospitalization, as harms from a given amount and pattern of drinking are higher for poorer drinkers and their families than for richer drinkers in any given society.
- Despite progress in reducing alcohol consumption and related harms, the Region continues to face significant challenges, including high rates of alcohol-related deaths, particularly from cancer.
- Although mutual help and peer support groups are useful resources for people with substance use disorders, almost half of responding countries reported that they do not offer such support groups for substance use disorders.
- In 2022, the WHO Regional Office for Europe, with support from the European Commission, initiated the Evidence into Action Alcohol Project (EVID-ACTION), which is contributing to delivering on the objectives of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan.
Deciding about drinking
If you already drink at low levels and continue to drink, risks for these issues appear to be low. Effective treatment options for substance use disorders exist, but treatment coverage remains incredibly low. The proportion of people in contact with substance use treatment services ranged from less than 1% to no more than 35% in 2019, in countries providing this data. Many people with alcohol use disorder hesitate to get treatment because they don’t recognize that they have a problem. An intervention from loved ones can help some people recognize and accept that they need professional help. If you’re concerned about someone who drinks too much, ask a professional experienced in alcohol treatment for advice on how to approach that person.
Effects of alcohol on your health
Despite progress in reducing alcohol consumption and related harms, the Region continues to face significant challenges, including high rates of alcohol-related deaths, particularly from cancer. The report highlights the urgent need to accelerate actions globally towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 3.5 by 2030 by reducing alcohol and drug consumption and improving access to quality treatment for substance use disorders. WHO has identified that the most cost-effective actions to reduce the harmful use of alcohol include increasing taxes on alcoholic beverages, enforcing restrictions on exposure to alcohol advertising, and restrictions on the physical availability of retailed alcohol. In addition, enforcing drink driving countermeasures and securing access to screening, brief interventions, and treatment are effective and ethically sound interventions. The most cost-effective interventions are at the focus of WHO-led SAFER initiative aimed at providing support for Member States in reducing the harmful use of alcohol. This initiative includes policies that reduce the affordability, availability, and acceptability of alcohol, particularly in the heaviest-drinking countries, mitigating the effects of alcohol consumption on public health.
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It also includes binge drinking — a pattern of drinking where a male has five or more drinks within two hours or a female has at least four drinks within alcohol drug overview two hours. Alcohol is a toxic and psychoactive substance with dependence producing properties. In many of today’s societies, alcoholic beverages are a routine part of the social landscape for many in the population. This is particularly true for those in social environments with high visibility and societal influence, nationally and internationally, where alcohol frequently accompanies socializing. In this context, it is easy to overlook or discount the health and social damage caused or contributed to by drinking.
It doesn’t matter how much you drink – the risk to the drinker’s health starts from the first drop of any alcoholic beverage. This regional workshop was planned to address the challenges of illicit tobacco trade and unrecorded alcohol consumption in the countries of the Region…. Harmful use of alcohol is accountable for 6,9 % and 2.0% of the global burden of disease for males and females respectively. Alcohol is the leading risk factor for premature mortality and disability among those aged 20 to 39 years, accounting for 13% of all deaths in this age group. Disadvantaged and especially vulnerable populations have higher rates of alcohol-related death and hospitalization.
Webinar: Women, men and alcohol: Why is gender important in alcohol control policies
A heavy drinking binge may even cause a life-threatening coma or death. This is of particular concern when you’re taking certain medications that also depress the brain’s function. In some people, the initial reaction may feel like an increase in energy. But as you continue to drink, you become drowsy and have less control over your actions. Drinking moderately if you’re otherwise healthy may be a risk you’re willing to take.
A critical aspect of the Region’s approach is addressing the commercial determinants of health, particularly the influence of the alcohol industry on public health policy. This emphasizes the importance of protecting policy-making processes from industry interference that aims to delay or weaken public health measures that would reduce alcohol consumption. To combat this, WHO advocates for transparency in policy development, the exclusion of the alcohol industry from policy discussions, and the implementation of regulations to limit the industry’s influence on public health. If you feel that you sometimes drink too much alcohol, or your drinking is causing problems, or if your family is concerned about your drinking, talk with your health care provider. Other ways to get help include talking with a mental health professional or seeking help from a support group such as Alcoholics Anonymous or a similar type of self-help group.
During pregnancy, drinking may cause the unborn baby to have brain damage and other problems. Despite this, the question of beneficial effects of alcohol has been a contentious issue in research for years. In the United States, people younger than age 21 are not legally able to drink alcohol. Heavy drinking also has been linked to intentional injuries, such as suicide, as well as accidental injury and death.
Consider talking with someone who has had a problem with drinking but has stopped. Alcohol use disorder can include periods of being drunk (alcohol intoxication) and symptoms of withdrawal. Total alcohol per capita consumption in the world population decreased slightly from 5.7 litres in 2010 to 5.5 litres in 2019.
