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Medical warning over increase in the 'wind-down' wine

Friday, October 30, 2009
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In case you weren't confused enough about the benefits and consequences of drinking wine, a professor in Britain says that women risk developing liver disease or becoming alcohol-dependant because they are unaware of the impact of regular drinking.

Professor Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians in London told Britain's Telegraph.co.uk that the pressure of being a mother or having a career was leading women to drink more and consequently they are "storing up a health time bomb".

"Women in their role as mother or carer use alcohol to cope with exhaustion, anxiety, isolation and with stressful life events," Professor Gilmore said.

He believes the link between alcohol consumption, the emancipation of women and their bigger role in the workplace has led to women feeling under more pressure, and having a drink to calm themselves.

"Women feel pressure to compete with their male counterparts, especially in those industries which are dominated by men and are highly paid, such as financial institutions in the city."

Professor Gilmore continued, "Alcohol is a sedative and a relaxant but, used on a regular basis, can really put people at high risk. Women are storing up a health time bomb by drinking this regularly."

The 2009 Australian Guidelines to Reduce Health Risks from Drinking Alcohol advises, "There is no level of drinking alcohol that can be guaranteed to be completely 'safe' or 'no risk'."

The guidelines recommend that healthy men and women drink no more than two standard drinks on any day to reduce the lifetime risk of harm from alcohol-related disease or injury.

Your say: do you have a drink at the end of the day? How regularly do you drink? Do you think women drink at a dangerous level? Do these findings worry you? Share your opinions below.


User comments
When was the last time the Police were pelted with bricks and bottles during a weekend of "cigarette fuelled" violence ? When was the last time that someone had a cigar,got behind the wheel of a car,lost control whilst under the influence of tobacco,and killed a family ? Considering that less than 1-7th of the Aus.population now smokes,i would say that alchohol use and abuse is responsible for horrific carnage across this country - whilst the antismoking campaign has made it acceptable to criminalise smokers and portray them as selfish,reckless,callous people who have little regard for others. But let me clarify - SMOKING DAMAGES LUNGS.If you smoke heavily enough for long enough you will destroy the alveoli (air sacs) in your lungs and develop emphysema.No-one in their right mind needs to smoke a packet a day! (Information is showing a distinctively negative psychological basis for smoking ) And if you have a history of lung cancer in your family, DO NOT SMOKE - EVER.
If the underlying concept behind the antismoking campaign is applied to other products then we are going to see almost everything banned because somebody harms themselves with it,and the government will intervene in our everyday lives in all sorts of fields("Big Brother" knows better)- basically imposing an officially sanctioned lifestyle on all of us.Freedom of choice and individuality will be a thing of the past.Totalitarianism anyone ?(Cigarette packet warnings =1.the "bleeding brain" - minor strokes don't kill people.Cutting their brain in half does.(Fake) 2.the "rotten mouth" - smoking, with no other factor involved,has ever been responsible for such a diseased mouth.Just ask an old smoker. (Fake) 3.the "rotten toes" (peripheral vascular disease) - has nothing to do with smoking. It affects Diabetics. Diabetics already have a serious problem with managing injuries and infections. (Fake) 4.The tar-filled sponge = surgically removed and dissected lungs look the same as a nonsmoker.)
I am so glad that someone mentioned smoking in relation to this article because we are dealing with a complex issue here - Will the government pursue alchohol companies in the same way that tobacco companies have been confronted, and do we allow government and an elitist medical body to take away our freedom to choose things for ourselves because one product or another might harm someone ? ('Smoking related illnesses cost the Australian economy up to $5.7 billion per year in lost productivity. Harmful alchohol use costs Australia an estimated $15 billion a year.' - claims the AMA) This is why i have been so concerned about the zealousness of the antismoking campaign...
I still have a drink in the evenings and i try and drink a small amount.I might go months without a drink.I do think that more women are drinking too much. To rely on it almost every day of the week is a worry, in my opinion. Alchohol dependancy is a real and serious thing and i have known women who have become alchoholics through this and have brought about serious problems in their lives. Lost drivers license,respect, partner, health, dignity...
Life is a fatal disease, so you might as well enjoy it. If you want to drink, drink. If you want to smoke, smoke. There are no guarantees. Some people can smoke and not die from it, others smoke and do. Some drink to excess and prop up bar stools for year, while others suffer liver disease. There are no rules or causations, just correllations! So just enjoy yourself, and try not to harm anything or anyone!
My parents lived into their late eighties and both drank every day. My husband's parents didn't drink and both died in their sixties. However his grandmother drank very heavily and died at the age of 92. So who's right? I really think we are becoming paranoid about drinking. The stress is likely to kill you before the drink at the end of the day.
Geez it is a worry when you have people saying "a wine is a necessity"!! I'd take that as being "addicted"! I drink very, very rarely - I may have a wine or two if I go out for a celebration but many times I also stick to non alcoholic drinks as I don't feel like alcohol or I am driving. Unfortunately drinking is still publicised as being a "cool thing to do" - the Government & community have virtually "outlawed" smoking because of the health risks which is fair enough so smoking companies can no longer sponsor sport, you can't smoke in public places & it cannot be advertised however alcohol companies can still sponsor sport, it is widely advertised AND it is encouraged in public places like the footy, races & car racing, etc. I go to the footy regularly & NEVER drink there but it's amazing how many drinks people can fit in within 2 hours of a footy game, they're skulling it down from start to finish! People don't seem to know about "moderation" anymore & they'll pay for it one day!
Wow, it astounds me how everyone here is trying to justify their alcohol habits. Drinking alcohol is bad for your health full stop. Its not "good" for you, contrary to popular belief here. It forms part of the causation link in MANY different types of cancer and leads to many other degenerative health changes. Regularly having two glasses of wine every night is NOT a good example to set for children. But keep telling yourself that Patch and maybe you'll even start to believe it. People, do what you want, but stop living in denial.
For crying out load, what's next "Toothpaste will be bad for our health". I was a very heavy drinker in my teens "I'm not saying it's right" now in my mid 40's had blood tests over the past 10 years and there is nothing wrong with my health. In fact most of the results are above average. "I also smoke." If anything it was the places I worked at that caused my physical health to decay. Bad safety ethics stuffed up my back. If having a couple of drinks after work is what relaxes a person why take that away, at least that person is not going to be stressed out and attack somebody.
if the stress doesn't kill us the drinking will cheers everbody!!!

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