‘Binge drinking’ not understood here — survey

NEWS flash!

Irish people do not know what binge drinking is.

Not to be prudish, but many people do not realise a couple of quiet pints counts as binge drinking by international standards.

A survey by the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland discovered the country has little understanding of what the phenomenon actually involves.

It revealed 27% of us think binge drinking is the consumption of five times more alcohol than the official definition allows.

The official definition of a binge is a period of uncontrolled eating or drinking.

But the recognised standard for binge drinking is two-and-a-half pints in one sitting or three glasses of wine.

A mere 10% of people believe binge drinking means consuming less than four pints.

Drinks group chairman Michael Patten said this casts a different light on European surveys that put us on top of a league of binge drinkers.

“It is important when discussing the issue of alcohol misuse that the language used is properly understood.

“We are inundated with surveys saying how Ireland has the highest rate of binge drinking and so on.

“Now we see that many people reading those stories will assume they refer to people drinking 10 drinks or more when, in fact, it means something [else],” he said.

Half the people who responded to the survey believed binge drinking related to occasions when between five and nine pints were consumed.

Mr Patten said: “If this is people’s impressions it is not right to refer to the term as binge drinking. This is a case of officialdom talking a different language to the general population.

“This is further complicated by the fact that moderate or low-risk drinking for males is determined to be three or four units of alcohol whereas one unit [half a pint] more is considered to be a binge,” he said.

The drinks group said more efforts were needed to educate people on what the terms mean and what is acceptable drinking.