SIZE matters.
That is the message behind a well-timed alcohol awareness campaign launched by the Scottish Government yesterday and aimed principally at women. Two generations ago women barely featured in statistics for alcohol-related disease and mortality. Historically, there was a greater sense of shame about women drinking and getting drunk but, as that stigma has faded, the numbers of women suffering serious health consequences from over-indulgence, including liver disease and breast cancer, have ballooned alarmingly.
This is not just because far more women are drinking far more alcohol far more often but also because, unfair as it may be, women tend to develop alcohol-related diseases and other consequences more quickly than men. Several biological factors make women more vulnerable to the effects of alcohol than men. This is particularly worrying in Scotland, where women drink more on average than their English counterparts. The 2010 Scottish Health Survey showed nearly four in ten women in Scotland drinking more per day and/or per week than recommended guidelines (a maximum of two to three units a day or 14 units a week, with at least two days alcohol free).
The "drop a glass size" campaign adopts a common sense approach that borrows its methodology from the world of dieting and exploits personal vanity. By drinking wine from a 125ml glass, rather than the so-called standard 175ml size or the 250ml "goldfish bowls" offered by many restaurants and bars, it is easier to moderate drinking, just as smaller plates are regarded as an aid to dieting. By echoing campaigns that encourage women to "drop a dress size", it also makes the often-overlooked link between alcohol and calorie intake. An accompanying smart phone app, showing how the ageing process is reduced along with reductions in alcohol intake, may be something of a gimmick but it has the advantage of nudging drinkers in the right direction without finger-wagging.
Scotland's dysfunctional relationship with alcohol is a complex one and nobody is suggesting that campaigns like this one can have an impact without a broad range of other measures to support it. The historically low price and widespread availability of alcohol play a part, which is why the Scottish Government's minimum alcohol pricing strategy deserves public support.
The licensed trade should contribute by ensuring that a 125ml glass always features among the choices on offer. The free distribution of 125ml measures would facilitate measuring alcohol units at home, where consumption is often dramatically underestimated.
Also there must be better recognition of the links between alcohol and poverty and the degree of self-medication with alcohol by women suffering from depression, stress and anxiety or struggling to cope with emotional problems. Is the Scottish story about women and alcohol not merely part of a broader cavalier disregard for personal health and an unwillingness to face up to the long-term personal and societal impact of unhealthy behaviour?
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article