2.7 glasses of alcohol per day are consumed by each French person. It is far too much, according to a study by the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm).
Nearly a quarter of adults exceed the recommended doses of alcohol: this is shown by the figures published Tuesday, June 13 by Public Health France. French adults consume an average of 2.7 glasses of alcoholic beverages per day. However, the rule is not to exceed two glasses a day and not every day. That’s a maximum of 10 drinks per week.
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These benchmarks have been a little better anchored in recent years, according to the Inserm experts, but there are still major regional disparities with more marked alcohol consumption in Brittany, Pays de la Loire and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, less marked than the average in Île-de-France, or in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.
Misconceptions
The synthesis of more than 3,000 documents (and the latest scientific knowledge) establishes that alcohol consumption can lead to hepatic, cardiovascular and neurological complications as well as an increased risk of cancer. Around 49,000 deaths, 8% of all new cases of cancer and around sixty illnesses are linked to alcohol, which remains the second leading cause of premature death in our country, behind tobacco. We must therefore forget the notion of “French paradox” and protective effect in small doses, because the idea that moderate alcohol consumption protects the heart and arteries, is a misconception.
It comes from studies which had thought to detect a difference in cardiovascular mortality in France, compared to the United Kingdom, but subsequent analyzes have detected methodological errors. It is now established that the harmful effect of alcohol appears from one drink per day, hence the importance of days without any consumption.
This report recommends better information on the risks, as well as a stricter supervision of the sale of alcohol by playing on the hours, the places of sale and the price. This group of experts also recommends modifying the Evin law to better regulate advertising and protect young people from Internet marketing. Finally, for these experts, the challenge of the month without alcohol is a very good concept, because studies show that, when you manage to reduce your consumption for a few weeks, this change in habit generally lasts quite a long time. It can be up to six months.