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Emma Doran is not really a poster girl for the temperance movement, but when it comes to drinking in Ireland, she is not far from a constraint model. For example, she does not drink during the week and usually only drinks one or two nights on weekends. Not a saint then, but at best, a sinner at the table.
The 34-year-old actor and mother of three, living in Dublin, says: "I drank at least once a week, and sometimes I could not get a chance, but at least I'd get a bottle of wine on Friday or Saturday night at home and then a gin and tonic.I could drink two nights of weekend.Our average weekly consumption would be a bottle of wine and two or three gin tonics.-during a bad week – would be two bottles of wine and some gin and tonics.
"I would not really drink from Monday to Friday, and I would not have a glass of wine with a meal, but I would probably drink to get drunk."
Emma's eating habits are similar to those of many Irish women, with wine being the beverage of choice for 60% of women over the age of 25, according to the 2013 National Consumer Newspaper Survey. Alcohol Health Research Board.
Dr. Deirdre Mongan, researcher at HRB, who conducted the surveys, said: "We started drinking at home in recent years, and women were more likely than men to drink alcohol. at home or at someone else's house (71% vs. 59.5%) Compared to other European countries, Irish people tend to drink fewer days a week, but when they drink it they drink in greater quantities: 75% of Irish alcohol is consumed as part of excessive consumption, and our consumption of alcohol would be characterized mainly by excessive consumption of alcohol, which is a means of drinking alcohol much more harmful than spreading over a greater number of days. "
The WHO defines excessive consumption of six or more standard drinks during a single session, three pints or more than six measures of alcohol. (The "standard drink" has replaced the old unit measure of the new nomenclature, but the values do not match exactly and may differ from one country to the other.For example, a standard beverage in Ireland contains 10 g of pure alcohol, but only 8 g in the UK.)
Emma's habits are so close to those of the country, there is certainly nothing that worries clinicians. After all, who does not have a few glasses of wine and maybe a few glasses of wine and coffee?
When I put this question to Professor Frank Murray, consultant in Hepatology and Gastroenterology and President of the Alcohol Health Alliance Ireland, he quickly removed me from this note. Very quickly.
"It's a lot," he insists. "That's about double the limit of 11 standard drinks a week for what it calls a" bad week ", which makes it a dangerous consumption."
Hazardous consumption is defined as being above low risk recommendations, but has not yet caused harm. After that, you agree to drink harmful. Indeed, if it is calculated using the HSE Online Drinks Calculator, Emma drinks about 10.5 standard drinks a week (7.5 in a bottle of wine and three for each G & T, in taking the steps of a pub). But during a bad week, it goes to about 19 standard drinks – 7.5 x 2 = 15 plus four drinks and a coffee = 19.
The online drink calculator also provides the caloric value of this consumption, which weighs 1,444 calories.
This week, the European Week Against Alcoholism, says Professor Murray, most Irish people greatly underestimate the danger of this type of alcohol consumption.
"When I came back to Ireland, I was shocked by the number of people – young people, especially women, suffering from irreversible liver failure and dying of alcohol," recalls he. "They did not drink" problem ", but they drank a glass of wine during the week and a few bottles at the weekend.This is a field of liver failure," he adds.
"Many people who drink two bottles of wine a week – let's say twice – will have fat in their liver." It would be unusual for people to suffer from liver failure with this level unless they If you have other factors that double it or increase it by 50%, it's quite common to see significant liver disease, "says Murray," but it seems like we're culturally predisposed to consider this. " consumption level as normal If, as the new guidelines suggest, no level of safe drinking, why do most of us – only 20% of Irish people do not drink – believe that do they at least suppress these insignificant suspicions?
"There are two big myths," says Professor Murray. "The first is that your liver can heal, and the second is that people say," I know lots of people who have drunk more than me and who have not had any problems. "And that's it. is true – there is an individual susceptibility.But the liver disease deaths are not only cirrhosis, there are two other categories – cancers and incidents, accidents that occur from the consumption of alcohol . "
In fact, the real danger with the very mythological "self-healing" liver is that a large part of the liver disease is asymptomatic until it is too late.
"Most people who have irreversible liver failure and who will die without a transplant have not received any significant prior warning.
"So, you arrive and it 's time for the game. People have this myth that the liver can regenerate, but that' s not true. You get a point when it 's time. is irreversible. "
He also points out that one in eight breast cancer is attributable to alcohol.
"The risks of breast cancer start with a very low consumption, even with the slightest consumption of one drink a day," he says.
So far, so terrifying. But Emma Doran shows a much higher degree of self-awareness than most others. "Many people my age have a glass of" innocent "wine on Friday nights, but it's not a drink, it's a bottle," she says.
"And there is a lot of alcohol, the first two glasses are big and you feel a little euphoric, and then something happens between the third and the fourth glass and you're kind of blackened.
"I'm a little person anyway – I'm only 5 feet 2 inches – so I really notice that if we drink a bottle of wine at someone's house and we go out afterwards, feel at home." comfortable to be intoxicated.
"But I would say that a lot of people I know drink more than me, I'm actually not growing more and more."
So, if we go drinking, how can we reduce our risk of liver disease?
Professor Murray said, "The first point to emphasize is that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption, but to reduce your risk, you must adhere to the low risk guidelines.
"There should be at least two to three days of free drink and avoid binge eating."
They seem to be strict guidelines but, as Professor Murray says, the risks are too low to be neglected …
To check if you are under or above low risk recommendations, go to askaboutalcohol.ie/your-drinking/drinks-calculator/
Irish independent
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