Alcohol

Alcohol consumption globally

Worldwide consumption in 2010 was equal to 6.2 litres of pure alcohol consumed per person (WHO).
Harmful alcohol use is listed as the third leading risk factor for premature deaths and disabilities in the world, so it is a serious public health problem. Worldwide, 5.9% of all global deaths were related to alcohol consumption

Alcohol consumption in Finland

10,3 l of pure alcohol per person in a year (2017)

Consumption decreased a little in 2017 from previous year

500 000 Finns have alcohol-related health problems

You can find situation in other countries here: Global information system on alcohol

http://gamapserver.who.int/gho/interactive_charts/gisah/consumption_adult/atlas.html

 

Alcohol legislation in Finland

• Age-limit to buy alcohol is 18, for strong alcohol 20 years
• Restaurants can sell alcohol for over 18 year olds
• Alcohol can be served by over 16 -year -olds supervised by over 18-year-olds
• Shops can sell drinks containing max 5,5% alcohol
• Stronger alcohol can be sold only by Alko
• Restaurants can sell alcohol to take away from 9 to 21
• Delivering alcohol for a minor is illegal

Alcohol and society

Environmental factors affect the alcohol consumption of an individual, so there are lot of personal habits in the same country

• economic development, both national and personal
• culture, what is accepted in the society
• availability of alcohol
• comprehensiveness and levels of implementation and enforcement of alcohol policies

Alcohol-related health risks

Heavy long-term drinking can cause several health problems and increase the risk for several illnesses

• Depression
• Anxiety disorders
• Livercirrhosis
• Pancreatitis
• Cancers (esp. GI-tract, liver and female breast cancer)
• Cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, atrial fibrillation, haemorragic stroke)
• Diabetes
• Infectious diseases (eg. pneumonia and tuberculosis)
• Fetal alcohol syndrome
• Suicide

Other alcohol-related harm

• Traffic accidents
• Crime and child abuse
• Domestic violence
• Violence
• Injuries of all types, including work-related injuries
• Effects on social relationships
• Family problems(marital problems, children)
• Financial problems

 

Risks of alcohol for young people

Most countries limit alcohol consumption of young people by legislation. Using alcohol at young age may harm physical growth and development seriously.

Inexperience in drinking and knowing the limits increases the risk of injuries and ending up as a crime victim. Heavy drinking may also lead to serious social and economic difficulties

Alcohol-related illnesses appear at younger age if heavy drinking starts early.

Risks of alcohol for pregnant women

Avoiding alcohol is recommend after positive pregnancy test as there is no limit for safe use of alcohol during pregnancy

At worst, heavy, long term drinking during pregnancy may lead to the child’s FASD, causing growth delay, developmental retardation, behavioral problems and abnormal head and facial structure

How to assess risks of drinking

One alcohol unit is

• bottle of beer/cider (0,33ml)
• glass of wine (12cl)
• 4 cl of liquor

Pint of beer is 2 units, bottle of wine is 6 units, 0,5 l bottle of 38% liquor is 13 units

 

Risk drinking in Finland

Moderate risk:

Women > 7 drinks/week
Men > 14 drinks/week

Increased risk:

Women ≥ 12-16 drinks/week or 2/day or >5 at once
Men ≥ 23-24 drinks/week or 3/day or  >7 at once

Daily limit:

Women < 10 g/alcohol/day and
Men < 20 g of alcohol/day

Addiction or a habit?

• Addiction means person can’t control using addictive thing and cannot be without it
• The body and mind requires to have it (eg.alcohol, drugs, games, smoking, internet… )
• Person has withdrawal symptoms, if quits using addictive thing
• Harms the body/mind or other people
• Person leaves normal daily tasks undone
• Addictions are hard to recognize by oneself
• Habit is action a person can choose to change or stop without help or withdrawal symptoms
• Withdrawal symptoms:
  • Mild symptoms often appear after only one heavy drinking event:
    shivering, restlessness, sweating, insomnia and irritability
  • Most serious symptom is delirium that may appear when long term heavy drinking is suddenly stopped.
    • Extremely hard symptoms: visual and hearing illusions, loss of consciousness, heart failure
    • May be life threatening and demands urgent hospital care

 

Professional help for drinking problems

• Motivation and willingness to change most important
• Recognizing the problem is a start
• Reasons and options for heavy drinking discussed with a health care professional
• Mini-intervention to identify the problem, motivation to change, often starts with other health issues
• Psychosocial care, therapy if needed

Sources and more information:

Babor, T. F. & Higgins-Biddle, J. C.2001. Brief Intervention for Hazardous and Harmful Drinking -A Manual for Use in Primary Care. World Health Organization. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/67210/1/WHO_MSD_MSB_01.6b.pdf

Käypä Hoito 2018. Alkoholiongelmaisen hoito.
http://www.kaypahoito.fi/web/kh/potilaalle/suositus?id=khp00049

Sosiaali- ja terveysministeriö 2018. Alkoholilain kokonaisuudistus.
http://stm.fi/alkoholilain-kokonaisuudistus

Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos THL 2009. Nuoret ja alkoholi.
http://www.lastenseurassa.fi/pub/files/nuoret_ja_alkoholi.pdf

Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos THL 2018. Alkoholijuomien kulutus 2017.
https://thl.fi/fi/tilastot/tilastot-aiheittain/paihteet-ja-riippuvuudet/alkoholi/alkoholijuomien-kulutus

WHO. 2014. Global status report on alcohol and health 2014. http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/global_alcohol_report/msb_gsr_2014_1.pdf?ua=1