Scots are drinking twice as much as previously thought, the Sunday Herald can reveal. New figures to be published tomorrow indicate that previous surveys seriously underestimated how much alcohol we consume.
The new figures suggest some men could be drinking a staggering 35 units a week - the recommended limit is 21. Women are regularly taking double the recommended number of units.
The last survey - carried out in 2003 - found on average for all ages men drank 17.2 units of alcohol per week and women drank 6.5 units. An NHS Health Scotland report - How much are people in Scotland really drinking?' - published tomorrow, suggests people could be drinking up to twice this amount.
The sharp rise has been blamed on the trend towards stronger drinks and bigger measures.
Report author Sonnda Catto, public health surveys manager at NHS Health Scotland, said there had been a growing discrepancy between the survey estimates of alcohol consumption and evidence of alcohol-related harm, which had led to questioning of the validity of data collected.
She said: "With drinks getting stronger and people becoming used to larger drink sizes, the alcohol challenge faced by Scotland appears to be more serious than we thought."
The measurements on how much people were drinking have been based on calculations used when surveys were first carried out, when one glass of wine - equivalent to 125ml at a strength of 8% ABV (alcohol by volume) - was counted as one unit of alcohol.
Now wines typically range from 11.5% to 14.5% in alcoholic strength and 175ml and 250ml glasses are more common in licensed premises, which add up to between 2 and 3.6 units of alcohol. And while a pint of beer has been classed as having two units of alcohol, many popular beers now contain three units per pint. Men are advised not to regularly drink four or more units a day and women should not exceed three.
In addition, the researchers point out what people are drinking at home has been substantially underestimated, with the average glass of home-poured spirits more than twice the size of a single pub measure.
The Office of National Statistics published UK-wide figures last year which reviewed survey figures to take into account of stronger and larger drinks. The average women's intake in 2005 was recalculated at 9.4 units - an increase of 45% from the old figure, mainly because women tend to drink more wine. The average intake for men went up by 26% to 19.9 units a week. Similar re-calculations for Scotland will be published by the government in a separate report on Tuesday, and are also expected to show an increase.
