2023-06-13 05:12:03
This is an encouraging drop in consumption, especially since it occurred in the midst of a pandemic. “Between 2020 and 2021, in mainland France, the proportion of adults declaring alcohol consumption above the lower-risk consumption benchmarks decreased significantly, from 23.7% to 22.0%”observed Public Health France in its weekly epidemiological bulletin Tuesday, June 13. But more than one in five French adults (22%) exceeds the recommended alcohol consumption limits in mainland France. The study is based on data from the Barometer of Public Health France (SPF) 2021 survey.
To limit the health impact of alcohol consumption, since 2017, lower-risk consumption benchmarks – maximum ten drinks per week, maximum two drinks per day, and days in the week without drinking – are the object of information campaigns.
As the proportion of French people exceeding these benchmarks had not decreased between 2017 and 2020, the overall decline in 2021 is considered “encouraging” by SPF. Especially since “the context of the health and social crisis linked to Covid-19 continued in 2021” et “could have predicted an upward trend in alcohol consumption”.
The decrease was observed mainly among men, but also the youngest, the oldest and the most advantaged (in terms of diplomas and income). The pandemic “could have reduced festive occasions” of the youngest and pushed the oldest to “limit convivial moments conducive to consumption to prevent possible contamination with Covid-19”according to assumptions from Public Health France.
France, one of the most alcohol-loving countries in the world
“Exceeding the benchmarks appears to be significantly higher than the metropolitan average in Brittany, Pays de la Loire and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes”notes the health agency, “while it is lower in Île-de-France, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and in all the DROMs [départements et régions d’outre mer] ».
France, still one of the most alcohol-loving countries in the world, has 42.8 million consumers. “It remains necessary to continue to inform about the risks of alcohol consumption, even at low doses”according to SPF.
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Alcohol consumption is directly or indirectly responsible for more than sixty diseases (cancer, cardiovascular, digestive, mental diseases, etc.). It is the first cause of hospitalization and the second cause of avoidable mortality in France (after tobacco).
“Individual satisfaction and the financial profits generated by alcohol consumption do not manage to exceed the cost of pathologies and mortality: 49,000 deaths per year for a social cost estimated at 118 billion euros”, notes Inserm in another article in the epidemiological bulletin. Inserm experts are once again calling for “limiting access and reducing its attractiveness” by one panoply of actions (restoration of the Evin law in its initial version then reinforcement, prevention, early detection, etc.).
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