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I have been drinking more alcohol than is good for me all my life. Deep down, I knew it could not do me much good, but I kept my lips tight against the glbad and my head in the sand, then I planted myself. Mea culpa.
During the making of a documentary entitled Drinkers like me Last year, I discovered how much I was putting away and what harm I had done. My liver, to my horror, has turned out not to be fit. And my contribution is almost certainly a factor in my trio of other diseases of middle age: hypertension, reflux and anxiety / depression.
Of course, I'm looking for someone to blame other than myself, without much joy. But I came to find that the alcohol producers were not as clear as they could be. I always have a drink and, although moderate, I probably still have more than the recommended maximum of 14 units a week. I am not at all an incipient prohibitionist. People should be able to drink what they want, but with complete information. And that's something the industry seems to want to keep us.
Consider a pub, with its long row of beer taps. On some, you will see the percentage of alcohol in the beer. But why does not he tell you how many units of alcohol there are in a pint? Besides, why does not he also tell you how many calories there are? After all, if you buy a bag of chips for the beer to be washed, it must clearly carry the complete nutritional information.
It turns out that there is in fact an exemption for alcoholic products. If alcohol contains alcohol, it is not necessary for the nutrition information to be included. Therefore, although it is necessary to have clear information on soft drinks, there are no alcoholic beverages. No, me neither.
In 2016, our Chief Medical Officers of Health set safe consumption guidelines at a new lower level – 14 units per week for men and women. Three years later, on the vast majority of the products we have been looking for Panoramamost producers still do not see the opportunity to mention it. It is no wonder that less than one in five of us knows the crucial figure of 14 units, because it appears on virtually no packaging. In most cases, the old board – 28 units for men and 21 for women – is all you will get.
As for the 14-unit safe consumption advice for 14 years, for what it's worth – unlike many of the alcohol industry – I've chosen to believe the findings of countless studies conducted by scientists around the world. If it's your weekly consumption in the long run, you have a one in 100 chance of dying from an alcohol-related illness. More than that and the chances become shorter. Habitual drinkers mock these miserable 14 units. I got used to myself, until I discovered that over 70% of all drinkers actually drink at such a low and good level for them.
However, this amazing truth has an unexpected consequence: most of the profits of the industry must come from the remaining 30%. We have to stay tough enough for them. If we were all to reduce our consumption of alcohol to safe levels, these profits would be affected to more than 10 billion pounds sterling.
I asked John Timothy, general manager of Portman Group, the industry-funded body, created to "foster a balanced understanding of alcohol-related problems," if businesses that he represents were willing to lose profits. "Yes, obviously. My members, the alcohol producers, do not benefit from those who abuse alcohol, "he said.
The question of whether their shareholders are as relaxed in the face of declining profits is another question.
The government does not betray any desire to regulate the industry. State Secretary for Health Matt Hanbad refused to appear on our program. He said this year that he was "strongly opposed" to the minimum unit price. For this reason, England will soon be the only part of the country where a person with serious alcohol problems will be able to buy three liters of super strong cider for less than four pounds.
With alcohol-related deaths peaking in 20 years, liver specialists are desperate. Nick Sheron, a prominent hepatologist, said, "I have been in this sport for about 20 years. I've tried to make sure that people do not die of liver disease anymore by changing my alcohol policy, and if I thought 20 years ago that it was where we were, I would have been so depressed. We are just not winning. The beverage industry is winning because the government spends more time listening to the beverage industry than listening to doctors and the chief medical officer of health. "
One of the industry's arguments against the minimum price is that moderate drinkers would be penalized. But as long as the minimum price is set at 50p, as in Scotland, you'll always get a bottle of wine at £ 4.50 or a bottle of whiskey at £ 14. If you drink only moderately, it will not hit you too hard.
Liquor companies must relax. We will all drink enough to hold them for a good while yet. So, they might as well start to be honest about some numbers to get rid of their peers.
Panorama of the BBC: the problem of the British drink is on BBC One Monday, June 10 at 20:30.
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