Drinkers 'underestimate alcohol consumption by a bottle a week'

Drinkers 'underestimate alcohol consumption by a bottle a week' . Britons underestimate how much they drink by an average of a bottle of wine a week, experts have warned.

In total the equivalent of 44 million more bottles of wine are sold in pubs, supermarkets and off licenses than drinkers will admit to consuming, researchers at Liverpool John Moores University found.

The team compared the amount that adults and teenagers believe they drink with official figures on alcohol sales.

People often forget special occasions like weddings, birthdays and Christmas parties when asked how much they have recently drunk, they warn.

The more alcohol consumed the harder it is to accurately estimate, they add.

The report also calculates that to stay within the Government’s recommended safe drinking levels overall consumption has to be cut by one third.

The research casts doubt on the reliability of official surveys of alcohol consumption that are used to inform everything from public health campaigns to licensing laws.

Official figures show that alcohol-related hospital admissions are approaching a million a year, a rise of 47 per cent in the last five years.

Experts have blamed the rise on 24-hour drinking, stronger alcohol and larger glass sizes.

The average British drinker consumes the equivalent of 26 units a week, the latest research estimates.

Ministers recommend limiting intake to just 14 units a week for women and 21 for men.

The study looked at findings from the General Household Survey, carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), but Prof Mark Bellis, who led the research, said that all health surveys which asked about alcohol tended to come out with similar figures.

He added: “It is easy to see how so much alcohol can be consumed without actually registering in surveys.

“When asked to think about their drinking, people often ignore occasional heavier drinking sessions, holidays, weddings and other celebrations like Christmas parties.

“Even when people try to remember such occasions, generally the more they have drunk, the more they are likely to forget.

“As a result, the difference between what people say they drink and sales data on how much is actually bought for consumption is huge.”

Don Shenker, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, said: “If we underestimate our drinking levels, then we’re underestimating the amount of harm we can expect to happen to our families, communities and wider society – as well as how much further we need to go to curb our excessive consumption.

“Poor survey intelligence can result in misinformed policy.

“Any future government must get to grips with measuring the true scale and nature of this problem if it is to make a difference to reduce alcohol harms.”

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "We welcome Alcohol Concern's report as many people do not realise how much alcohol they drink and they may understate their drinking on self-reported surveys.

"That's why the Government also uses data on alcohol sales to measure the true level of alcohol consumption, which informs our policies.” ( telegraph.co.uk )