Grasp of safe alcohol limits proves to be a long shot
ONLY FIVE per cent of Australians are able to identify safe drinking levels and young people particularly think they can drink far more than is good for them, a national survey shows.
The Centre for Alcohol Policy Research has found that apart from the 95 per cent of people unable to say what are safe drinking levels, up to 50 per cent could not even provide an estimate of hazard-free alcohol intake.
The centre's study, based on analysis of results from surveys undertaken over the past five years, reflect a failure to promote safe drinking guidelines but may also stem from confusion between the guidelines and drink-driving limits, the survey researcher, Michael Livingston, said.
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One, two, three, floor ... safe drinking guidelines misunderstood, study says. Photo: Cathy Wilcox
The national safe drinking guidelines, declared in 2009, state that men and women can imbibe two drinks a day without adversely affecting their health and on special occasions up to four drinks over six hours.
The broad recommendation to those wishing to keep their alcohol level under the .05 drink-drive laws is two standard drinks in the first hour and one drink an hour thereafter.
Mr Livingston said the misconceptions about safe drinking were sharply pronounced among young people.
Young people overestimated the number of standard drinks they could have without exposing themselves to the risk of short-term harms. Young males aged 14 to 19 years estimated 8.8 drinks was a safe limit, while their female counterparts estimated 6.5 drinks, Mr Livingston said.
Big drinkers were even less likely to give an accurate view. People who consumed more than 11 drinks a day were more likely to overestimate the number of drinks they could consume in one session without raising risk of short-term harm.
Men in this category thought 9.2 drinks was a safe limit, while women put it at 5.9 drinks.
Overall, 21.1 per cent of males and 14.9 per cent of females accurately estimated that they should take no more than two drinks a day to reduce the risk of long-term harm to their health.
Only 6.4 per cent of males and 8.2 per cent of females accurately said they should drink no more than four drinks in a sitting to reduce the risk of short-term harm such as accidents.
He said it was possible that the drink-drive advice on alcohol consumption played a role in confusing people, given it was the most commonly-conveyed advice on drinking that people heard.
The Centre for Alcohol Policy Research analysis was based on data from the 2007 and 2010 National Drug Strategy surveys which covered 26,000 people.
Mr Livingston said while there had been a slight change between the two surveys, the study showed the guidelines, formulated by the National Health and Medical Research Council, had not changed broader perceptions.
The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education's chief executive, Michael Thorn, yesterday said that despite the federal government's recognition of alcohol misuse as a priority area for public health, little effective action had been taken.
''People are not going to make healthier choices if they are not even aware what those safe choices are,'' he said.
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