Many American men and women drink too much and too often, according to a new study. Researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion surveyed 5,400 adults over the age of 21, asking (among other questions) how much alcohol they drank the previous day. Some 64 percent of men and 79 percent of women said they drank no alcohol the previous day, while 18 percent of men and 10 percent of women drank within the federally recommended guidelines. (The guidelines are up to two drinks per day for men, and one drink per day for women).
Eighteen percent of men and 11 percent of women drank above the recommended guidelines. Eight percent of men and 3 percent of women are classified as “heavy drinkers,” meaning the men drank five or more drinks the previous day and the women drank four drinks or more. Heavy drinking was not just a problem for the younger set; in fact, females aged 51 to 70 and males aged 30 to 50 had the highest percentage of heavy drinkers compared to other age categories. According to Jennifer Martens, a research medical scientist at Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, the study “confirms that rates of unhealthy alcohol use in the U.S. are significant.”