Canadians underestimate how much alcohol they drink and that hinders their understanding of the health risks and makes it difficult for health officials to plan how to avert disease and accidents, say researchers at the University of Victoria.
Scientists discovered the under-reporting by looking at what Canadians said about their consumption in a household survey and then comparing that to alcohol sales. The discrepancy indicates Canadians only report consuming only one-third of what is actually sold.
Young and low-risk drinkers under-report
Young people under 24 were most likely to under-report as were low-risk drinkers—men who had fewer than 15 drinks a week and women who had fewer than 10. There was no difference in how poorly men and women estimated their alcohol consumption.
There are several reasons why people may under-report, says Kara Thompson, research associate at the Centre for Addictions Research at the University of Victoria in western Canada.
Some are ‘in denial’
“One I think is that people simply don’t want to share how much they’re actually drinking or they may even be in denial, so they really aren’t aware. But I think mostly that people simply are not accurate. We just are not very good guessers about how often we do things and they simply can’t remember. And partially that’s a reflection of the fact that we ask bad questions,” says Thompson.
We typically ask how much people drank in the last year when it would be better to ask if they drank yesterday, she says. Producers could also be required to label their bottles so people have a better idea of how many drinks they are consuming.
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.