Alcohol: nearly one in 4 adults consumes too much in France

The French are too heavy consumers of alcohol. This is the conclusion of the latest results of the French public health barometer published on November 9. To collect the data, a telephone survey was carried out on a random sample of 14,873 individuals residing in metropolitan France between January and March, then between June and July 2020.

Results: in 2020, nearly one in 4 adults, more precisely 23.7% of the population aged 18 to 75, exceeded the benchmarks for alcohol consumption. Men were more concerned (33.5%) than women (14.9%) and “women with a high qualification, unemployed men and those with high incomes were more likely to exceed the benchmarks”. Exceeding the benchmarks is consistent according to age, but behavior is different with the youngest. The latter consume less frequently but in greater quantities than their elders.

These figures did not change significantly between 2017 and 2020, the report says. Note, however, that they could be slightly overestimated given the fact that the investigation was suspended and then resumed in the summer after confinement, “thus modifying the usual period of data collection, whereas the latter usually takes place throughout the first semester”, and that summer is a more favorable period for consumption.

No more than 2 drinks per day and not every day

Inserm points out that alcohol is responsible for more than 40,000 deaths in France each year. In 2017, experts from Public Health France and the National Cancer Institute (INCa) defined benchmarks for lower risk alcohol consumption: not to consume more than 10 standard drinks per week, not more than 2 standard drinks per day and to have days in the week without drink. Several prevention campaigns have been carried out with, in particular, this simple mark: “for your health, alcohol is a maximum of 2 glasses per day, and not every day “.

“The link between alcohol and cancer risk seems well identified. However, the desire to reduce consumption concerns only 23% of consumers. above the benchmarks, suggesting very anchored behaviors and a certain distancing from the risks vis-à-vis their own consumption “ can we read in the study. “The work of debanalizing alcohol consumption is made both essential and very difficult because of the power of marketing deployed by manufacturers.”