Consumer habits about the image and not about health: new study



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According to research, mid-life drinkers are more concerned about whether their habit is harming their image rather than their health.

Older age groups consume in a way that they can fulfill their responsibilities and believe that their health is not affected as long as they are not deafening, stumbling, vomiting or suffering hangover.

A UK study indicates that many people do not take into account the recommended consumption limits and are influenced by factors such as respectability and sociability.

Middle-aged drinkers care more about their social status than about their health.

Emma Muhlack, a researcher at the University of Adelaide, analyzed 13 studies – nine from the UK – to explain why older people had been drinking.

"In the UK, average alcohol consumption is highest among men aged 55 to 64 and women aged 45 to 54," she said.

"Despite the growing evidence that older drinkers consume more than younger drinkers, we know very little about the motivations and decision-making processes of unsophisticated middle-aged drinkers in their consumption of alcohol.

Muhlack said most of the research was focused on problem drinkers – alcoholics and heavy drinkers.

"Nevertheless, unsophisticated drinkers can still consume in ways that have a negative impact on their health in the long run," Ms. Muhlack said.

"For example, alcohol is a class 1 carcinogen with a dose-response relationship and no known" safe "minimum level of consumption, which means that regular alcohol consumption increases the risk of cancer."

The new research highlights the motivations of middle-aged alcohol drinkers.

She suggests that public health campaigns could be more effective if they focus on the risks of "unacceptable" consumer behavior rather than their health.

Not respecting responsibilities, harming others and the potential loss of respectability could be a better message for seniors to reduce their alcohol consumption.

Gender also played a role in what was considered acceptable consumption, drunk women being considered more negatively than men.

Ms. Muhlack, whose study was published in BMC Public Health, said, "It is surprising that health does not seriously question the way this group thinks about its consumption.

When they think about health, they use their own experiences as a landmark, for example what one feels when one drinks too much, rather than guidelines.

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