# Irish drink on average 150 bottles of wine a year?



## z106 (3 Sep 2008)

Di dany of yee hear this on that report today on teh news?

Surely that's complet rubbish.

That's 3 bottles a week each on average !!

No way I say !


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## ClubMan (3 Sep 2008)

qwertyuiop said:


> Di dany of yee hear this on that report today on teh news?
> 
> Surely that's complet rubbish.
> 
> ...


You haven't been on the sauce yourself already have you? If not then:


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## Caveat (3 Sep 2008)

Are you saying you don't believe it because you think it's a lot or because you didn't think wine was that popular?

Don't drink wine that often myself but if it was my drink of choice I'm sure I'd have no problem drinking 3 bottles a week.  Any wine drinkers I know would drink about this amount.

I don't think it's excessive - it's less than 15 glasses a week.


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## jhegarty (3 Sep 2008)

15 glass a week is not excessive , but for everyone like myself who doesn't have any you need someone having 30....


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## mathepac (3 Sep 2008)

jhegarty said:


> 15 glass a week is not excessive....



Well it exceeds the maximum units of alcohol per week for a man or a woman who wishes to avoid harm, according to HSE guidelines.

1 bottle of wine = 10 units of alcohol
3  x 10 = 30 units
Maximum recommended weekly intake = 14 units for a woman and 21 units for a man.

But then, our reputation as a nation with a lax attitude to the harm alcohol causes in society is not deserved, is it?

See here for more info - http://www.irishheart.ie/iopen24/defaultarticle.php?cArticlePath=47


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## z106 (4 Sep 2008)

I think to average 3 bottles of wine each a week is very excessive.

3 a week? The average ?

No way. I don't believe it.

Where do people fit that in?

Perhaps i am taking the report up literally in that they are referring to the unit equivalent of 3 bottles of wine.
If that is the case then i find the report completely believable.

However the report definitely did say specifically 3 bottels of wine on average.
So - where do people manage to fit in 3 bottles of wine in each week?

Keep in mind that even the most enthusiastic wine drinkers would have quiet weeks which have to be made up for on other weeks to maintain teh 3 bottle average.


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## Bubbly Scot (4 Sep 2008)

jhegarty said:


> 15 glass a week is not excessive


 
Blimey! I wouldn't drink that in a year! Mind you, I'm not your "average drinker", I'd drink once or twice a year and sometimes hit double figures.


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## Caveat (4 Sep 2008)

mathepac said:


> Well it exceeds the maximum units of alcohol per week for a man or a woman who wishes to avoid harm, according to HSE guidelines.


 
Pah!

Problem with this weekly unit intake thing is that it seems to be revised all the time. 1 standard glass of wine used to be regarded as 1 unit and you get less than 5 of these glasses in a bottle.

Regardless of units, 3 bottles works out at just over two glasses per day - which with meals, is regarded as a healthy lifestyle by many.


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## truthseeker (4 Sep 2008)

qwertyuiop said:


> I think to average 3 bottles of wine each a week is very excessive.


 
Sounds excessive to me too - especially for wine, I would have thought most wine drinkers enjoyed a glass or two (or three), once or twice a week.

I cant see any way of dividing up 3 bottles of wine a week that doesnt seem excessive, 2 glasses a night with an extra glass for saturday night means someone is drinking every night of the week. 7 or 8 glasses a night on 2 nights of the week is an excessive amount on an individual night. And anything in between seems excessive also.


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## Caveat (4 Sep 2008)

mathepac said:


> 1 bottle of wine = 10 units of alcohol


 
Contradiction here.  They say 1 x 100cl glass = 1 unit, but go on to say that the average bottle of wine contains 10 units.  It doesn't.  The average bottle of wine is not 1L it is 750ml.

See? How can you believe anything they say?


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## z106 (4 Sep 2008)

Caveat said:


> Pah!
> 
> 
> Regardless of units, 3 bottles works out at just over two glasses per day - which with meals, is regarded as a healthy lifestyle by many.


 
But that's the thing. It's fine when you paint it like that.

But who does that every day?
Nobody !

In fact most people probably don't drink at all between monday to thursday.
Most of teh drinking occurs on friday and saturday.

Which means to maintain this average you are looking at serious binge drinking - and not be the few but by nearly everybody accross teh board. 

I don't believe that is happening.


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## truthseeker (4 Sep 2008)

Even if its only 2 glasses a day and thats not doing much physical harm, I would be extremely concerned about someones psychological attitude to alcohol if they drank every single day.


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## F. Kruger (4 Sep 2008)

I haven't seen the report but I assume that the figures quoted are based on the number of bottles purchased V's the number of bottles consumed?.


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## Caveat (4 Sep 2008)

truthseeker said:


> I would be extremely concerned about someones psychological attitude to alcohol if they drank every single day.


 
Why? Many French, Spanish, Italians etc drink every day. It's a healthier psychological attitude than bingeing.

What's should be of *far* more concern to the health other than moderate daily alcohol intake is daily intake of e.g. sodium, saturated fat etc. together with general lack of exercise & essential vitamins/minerals.


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## efm (4 Sep 2008)

I have searched but I have not been able to find the article or news item that started this particular thread - can anyone find it?


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## ClubMan (4 Sep 2008)

If 100 bottles per capita is correct (which I doubt) then we must have had a high performance team on the case [broken link removed].


> In 1990 there were 1.5 million cases of wine sold in Ireland. That figure rose to almost five million in 2001 and showed a further 20% rise in the first four months of 2002. The rate for this year is expected to breach six million.
> 
> Although still the lowest rate in the EU, the market for table wine in Ireland has more than doubled in the past decade.
> 
> ...


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## efm (4 Sep 2008)

ClubMan said:


> If 100 bottles per capita is correct (which I doubt) then we must have had a high performance team on the case [broken link removed].


 
Exactly - I found a HSE report for 1986-2006 which states that in 2006 TOTAL alcohol consumption (ie wine, beers and spirits) per adult per annum was 13.4 litres.


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## ClubMan (4 Sep 2008)

Which is about 18 75cl bottles so a far cry from the 150 mentioned in this thread. I suspect that the original report or the original poster (or both) were wrong!


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## z106 (4 Sep 2008)

Ok - i may heave been wrong.

I heard it on teh radio news yesterday twice.

Teh first time i heard it i considered the possibility of mis-hearing it so i listened out for it at the next hourly bulletin to be sure.

and they did say it on teh next hourly bulletin too.

Unfortunately as i only heard it i don't have a text link.

So unless i misheard it twice while listening out for it specifically the second time round?

It's possibel i guess. But unlikely surely?

That said - something definitely doesn't add up given teh french drink only 79 bottles a year i suppose.

Ok -maybe we shoudl abandon thsi thread given that i don't have concrete evidence of teh initial report.


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## ClubMan (4 Sep 2008)

Once again - any chance you could compose legible posts?


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## Cahir (4 Sep 2008)

I heard it on the radio yesterday too and couldn't believe it.


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## ClubMan (4 Sep 2008)

What station/programme? What *exactly *did they say? Maybe there's a podcast so we can check?


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## Ceist Beag (4 Sep 2008)

ClubMan said:


> Once again - any chance you could compose legible posts?



Clubman looks like Pudsy Ryan is alive and well eh!!


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## Cahir (4 Sep 2008)

ClubMan said:


> What station/programme? What *exactly *did they say? Maybe there's a podcast so we can check?



Would have been sometime between 5.45pm and 7pm on Today FM.


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## ubiquitous (4 Sep 2008)

> Don’t believe half of what you see and none of what you hear


Lou Reed


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## ClubMan (4 Sep 2008)

Ceist Beag said:


> Clubman looks like Pudsy Ryan is alive and well eh!!


Huh!?


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## Ceist Beag (4 Sep 2008)

There used to be an article in The Far East magazine (which was widely circulated when I was a nipper) called My Diry by Pudsy Ryan who used to have the same problem as qwerty when it came to spelling! But I should have remembered the particular magazine this appeared in would not have dirtied your kitchen table!!


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## bigred (5 Sep 2008)

efm said:


> Exactly - I found a HSE report for 1986-2006 which states that in 2006 TOTAL alcohol consumption (ie wine, beers and spirits) per adult per annum was 13.4 litres.


 
I think this means 13.4 litres of pure alcohol e.g. the average wine is 13% volume so 750ml x .13% = 97.5ml alcohol. 13.4 litres / 97.5ml = 137 bottles of wine which fits well with the 150 bottles argument?


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## zag (5 Sep 2008)

If the report related to the average wine drinker, then the figure could easily be correct.

I hate to shock people, but I have been known to drink on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays, as well as Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays.  I can pretty much say I haven't done all days in a particular week though.

I don't reserve my consumption for perceived peak days like the weekend - why should I ?  When I'm at home with Mrs Zag and there's a good film on we would regularly go through a bottle watching the film.  If it's a Monday I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.  I might even get more sleep.  We could easily get through 3 or 4 bottles betwen us this way.  Then when you add in events like weddings, funerals, Christmas, parties, etc . . . where there might be more than usual consumed I can easily see how I might go through 150 bottles a year.  Of course it could well be 100 for me, I haven't been counting, but I can see how it could be higher.

z


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## teachai (5 Sep 2008)

How small are these bottles ??


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## ClubMan (5 Sep 2008)

I restrict myself to a single glass of beer a day.


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## eileen alana (5 Sep 2008)

zag said:


> If the report related to the average wine drinker, then the figure could easily be correct.
> 
> I hate to shock people, but I have been known to drink on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays, as well as Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays. I can pretty much say I haven't done all days in a particular week though.
> 
> ...


 

Zag - You don't shock no one but yourself. Alcohol affects every organ in the body if I were you I would be most concerned of the damage been done to my body. You'd really want to think about what you are doing.


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## eileen alana (5 Sep 2008)

Caveat said:


> Why? Many French, Spanish, Italians etc drink every day. It's a healthier psychological attitude than bingeing.
> 
> What's should be of *far* more concern to the health other than moderate daily alcohol intake is daily intake of e.g. sodium, saturated fat etc. together with general lack of exercise & essential vitamins/minerals.


 
I don't think we should be comparing ourselves to the drinking habits of other nations.  For example, France has the highest rate of alcoholics with 5.7 alcoholics per one hundred adults. There is nothing healthy about those rates.


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## BillK (5 Sep 2008)

Or take typing lessons?


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## eileen alana (5 Sep 2008)

efm said:


> I have searched but I have not been able to find the article or news item that started this particular thread - can anyone find it?


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## Simeon (5 Sep 2008)

Or else not open the second bottle 'til you log out.


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## ClubMan (5 Sep 2008)

That says...


> Each year the average drinker consumes the equivalent of 600 pints of beer, or 150 bottles of wine or 50 bottles of spirits.


So if you factor in the non drinkers in the population then the average per capita consumption would necessarily be lower?


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## ClubMan (5 Sep 2008)

eileen alana said:


> Zag - You don't shock no one but yourself. Alcohol affects every organ in the body


Yeah - but only _Heineken _refreshes the parts that other beers can't reach.


> if I were you I would be most concerned of the damage been done to my body. You'd really want to think about what you are doing.


As far as I can see from his post he drinks relatively moderately but frequently and does not binge. This sounds reasonable/responsible to me. Regular moderate consumption of alcohol is generally considered beneficial for health as far as I know.


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## Caveat (6 Sep 2008)

eileen alana said:


> For example, France has the highest rate of alcoholics with 5.7 alcoholics per one hundred adults.


 
Highest rate of alcoholics where? In the EU? In the world? Do you have a source for this statistic? 

Maybe it's accurate, maybe it isn't, but where does that leave the other two countries I mentioned?

They are only a few examples BTW: much of southern Europe has a culture of moderate daily alcohol consumption.



> Regular moderate consumption of alcohol is generally considered beneficial for health as far as I know.


 
Yes, most health professionals are in agreement with this and what's more, they also tend to agree that regular moderate drinkers are actually statistically more healthy than teetotallers or occasional drinkers.


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## ClubMan (6 Sep 2008)

Caveat said:


> Highest rate of alcoholics where? In the EU? In the world? Do you have a source for this statistic?


I'd be very curious as to how "alcoholism" is defined and how its incidence is measured in this context.


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## eileen alana (6 Sep 2008)

Caveat said:


> Highest rate of alcoholics where? In the EU? In the world? Do you have a source for this statistic?


 

The figures are from Epidemiological and Vital Statistics Report, XI, No. 4 (Geneva: World Health Organization, 1958), 136-38.


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## Simeon (6 Sep 2008)

ClubMan said:


> I'd be very curious as to how "alcoholism" is defined and how its incidence is measured in this context.


An "alcoholic" is a person that drinks more than you, hic
As in 'a speeding motorist is someone driving faster than you'.


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## Caveat (6 Sep 2008)

eileen alana said:


> (Geneva: World Health Organization, *1958*)


 
The world was quite a different place 50 years ago.


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## eileen alana (6 Sep 2008)

Caveat said:


> The world was quite a different place 50 years ago.


 

 My library book must be out of date then


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## efm (8 Sep 2008)

As Clubman pointed out that report is talking about equivalent amounts of alcohol - I had assumed that the report was saying 150 actual bottles per year.

Also, I wonder if the drinking statistics are broken down by demographics and age anywhere - I know I drank a lot more in my 20's than I do now


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## Caveat (8 Sep 2008)

The beer equivalent mentioned is 600 pints a year: _11.5 pints a week._

Not a _huge _amount I would have thought?


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## eimear25 (11 Sep 2008)

why do you type teh instead of the ????????

anyway 3 bottles a week is excessive, it has to be wrong!


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## Caveat (11 Sep 2008)

eimear25 said:


> why do you type teh instead of the ????????


 
If you are addressing qwertyuiop, he has since been banned so problem solved.


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## truthseeker (11 Sep 2008)

Caveat said:


> The beer equivalent mentioned is 600 pints a year: _11.5 pints a week._
> 
> Not a _huge _amount I would have thought?


 
I would definitely class this as excessive, I know people are saying 'if you divided it out, its not many drinks a day, a moderate amount is healthy in your diet etc...' - but to me 11.5 pints a week IS excessive no matter what way its divided up - its either a couple of binges (not good) or some alcohol practically every day, which IMO is not good either.


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## Caveat (11 Sep 2008)

Let's call it 12 pints - 4 nights of 3 for example - is that really that bad? I guess we're not going to agree on this. 

Maybe it is a bit too much but if you are going by HSE/WHO standards etc, their figures will be necessarily conservative/aspirational. 

There are plenty of other guidelines that they suggest but do people actually adhere to them? 
e.g. 5 portions of fruit/veg. a day? oily fish twice a week? etc etc I'm sure for example that many or even most people exceed their RDA of sodium regularly.

As it happens, I made a point of recording my alcohol intake for the last week - here goes:

Fri - 5 x 500ml cans of 4.8% beer
Sat - 0
Sun - 3 x 500ml cans of 4.8% beer
Mon - 1 x 500ml cans of 4.8% beer
Tue - 0
Wed - 0
Thurs - i.e. tonight, I'm going to have a few cans - probably 4.

The above would be typical enough for me and would actually fit almost exactly with the average weekly intake of 11.5 pints.

(BTW, I have a very good diet, exercise regularly & have full medical once a year - doctor advised me on my last visit that I have the "biological age" of someone 10 years younger )


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## Purple (14 Sep 2008)

I drink more now (in my 30’s) than I did in my 20’s.
At a guess I average two bottles of wine and 5 pints of beer a week.
I eat at least 5 portions of fruit and veg a day, I eat lots of fish (oily as well as white and shell), get a moderate amount of exercise etc (I cycle to the pub ) and I don’t binge drink.

I think that some non-drinkers get a bit shrill about this topic.


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## DavyJones (14 Sep 2008)

Purple said:


> I drink more now (in my 30’s) than I did in my 20’s.
> At a guess I average two bottles of wine and 5 pints of beer a week.
> I eat at least 5 portions of fruit and veg a day, I eat lots of fish (oily as well as white and shell), get a moderate amount of exercise etc (I cycle to the pub ) and I don’t binge drink.
> 
> I think that some non-drinkers get a bit shrill about this topic.




Cycling back must be great craic. I like a drink but probably don't drink 12 pints a week, every week. But over the course of a year I would come close to 600 pints. At €4.50 a pint, thats a massive €2700.....wow!


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## Purple (14 Sep 2008)

DavyJones said:


> Cycling back must be great craic.


 It clears the head.


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## Vanilla (14 Sep 2008)

Purple, Caveat got away with it cause he was able to say:




Caveat said:


> BTW, I have a very good diet, exercise regularly & have full medical once a year - doctor advised me on my last visit that I have the "biological age" of someone 10 years younger )


 
What's your excuse?


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## truthseeker (15 Sep 2008)

Caveat said:


> Let's call it 12 pints - 4 nights of 3 for example - is that really that bad? I guess we're not going to agree on this.
> 
> Maybe it is a bit too much but if you are going by HSE/WHO standards etc, their figures will be necessarily conservative/aspirational.
> 
> ...


 
And how would the head be on a Friday in work after 4 cans on a Thursday night? Id be wrecked if it were me, I couldnt do it, Id die for the day.


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## Caveat (15 Sep 2008)

As it happens, I didn't actually have a drink last Thursday in the end.

But having 3 or 4 when I have work the next day isn't unusual for me and it's never been a problem.


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## Purple (15 Sep 2008)

Vanilla said:


> Purple, Caveat got away with it cause he was able to say:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 Excellent genetics


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## truthseeker (15 Sep 2008)

Caveat said:


> As it happens, I didn't actually have a drink last Thursday in the end.
> 
> But having 3 or 4 when I have work the next day isn't unusual for me and it's never been a problem.


To me that seems excessive because Id be dying the next day. My limit would be 2 if Id work the next day - any more than 2 and Id be paying for it. My tolerance seems to be reducing dramatically with age.


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