Older and wiser

Over-30s 'ignore alcohol advice'

People in their 30s and 40s are worse than those in their 20s at knowing when to stop drinking, a poll has suggested. Once past the age of 30 the body loses muscle and water and gains fat - making the effects of alcohol more pronounced. A survey by YouGov found almost half of 30 to 50-year-olds confessed to drinking too much at times and had not learned to stick to their limits.

Yeah, you know, I daren't walk past my local bowls club on a Saturday evening for fear of being assaulted by binge-drinking pensioners.

One in three of the 30 to 50-year-olds surveyed said that drinking too much had wrecked a night out for them at least once in the past year, and 44% said they hadn't learned to stick to the recommended number of drinks.

So the vast majority hadn't had a bad drinking experience in the last year? Not even on one occassion. Sound like a pretty sober lot to me.

Professor Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians and Chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance, said: "This research shows that binge drinking and hangovers are not just a problem for younger drinkers. "Many people underestimate the amount of units they are drinking because drinks have been getting stronger, and glasses larger, over the past couple of decades - a small glass of wine can now be two units, and large glasses three to four units.

Drinks have been getting stronger and glasses larger? Where does the good prof do his boozing, I wonder. Wine measures are getting larger, it's true, but last time I was in a pub I didn't notice many of the customers drinking Shiraz. They were downing pints of bitter, lager and Guiness or shots of whisky, gin, vodka or rum , in measures that haven't changed for donkey's years and in strengths that have remained unaltered for years - except for Gordon's gin, which has got weaker. Perhaps us older types know full well that the recommended daily limits are utterly meaningless and were not arrived at by careful scientific research but simply 'plucked out of the air'.