22% of French people exceed the recommended alcohol consumption limits according to figures published this Tuesday, June 12 by Public Health France in a study covering the year 2021. And according to Inserm, alcohol is responsible for 49,000 deaths per year at a social cost estimated at 118 billion euros.
“Alcohol is a maximum of 2 glasses a day and not every day”. The prevention slogan hammered out on radio and television seems to be bearing fruit since between 2020 and 2021, in mainland France, “the proportion of adults declaring alcohol consumption above the lower-risk consumption benchmarks has significantly decreased, from 23.7% to 22.0%”, observes the health agency in its weekly epidemiological bulletin.
Less alcohol among men and young people
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 10 drinks per week, maximum two drinks per day, and days in the week without consumption) are object of information campaigns.
Read also :
Ricard, Pastis 51, Suze… why have these spirits disappeared from the shelves of Leclerc supermarkets?
As the proportion of French people exceeding these benchmarks had not declined between 2017 and 2020, the overall drop in 2021 is considered “encouraging” by SPF. Especially since “the context of the health and social crisis linked to Covid-19 continued in 2021” and “could have foreshadowed 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 the festive occasions” of the youngest and pushed the oldest to “limit the convivial moments conducive to consumption to prevent possible contamination with Covid-19”, according to hypotheses from Public Health France.
It is in Brittany, Pays de la Loire, and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes that we drink the most
“Exceeding the benchmarks appears 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 -County and in all overseas departments and regions (DROM)”.
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.
Read also :
Aperitif: the new trend in non-alcoholic drinks
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 the Inserm in another article in the epidemiological bulletin.