Make sure you don’t have alcohol problems.

The proportion of Lithuanians who drink and do not drink alcohol remains the same. According to the researchers, summarizing the data shows that in order to change alcohol consumption habits, it is necessary to generate social trust instead of an insurance policy.

Read: The new Lithuanian consumption data is surprising: a group of people under the age of 30. grew twice as drunk at home

We recall the famous AUDIT test at the end of 2017, which was offered to medical institutions to identify and help a person who is harmful to alcohol and / or at risk of addiction.

Take the test: what is the risk of your addiction?

Before evaluating the risks of alcohol consumption, a person should first be asked if they are consuming alcohol.

In this sense, the objective is to exclude non-alcoholic respondents. If the person answers yes, they are asked to answer several questions or to complete the provided questionnaire. Depending on the test results obtained, the intervention is selected:

• If the risk of alcohol consumption is low (AUDIT-C for women <3, AUDIT-C for men <4, FAST <3; AUDIT <8), the person should be recommended and advised not to increase their consumption of alcohol. It can be said that it is safer to leave alcohol completely in terms of health;

• if a risk level of alcohol consumption is identified: 1) using short questionnaires (AUDIT-C for women ≥3; AUDIT-C for men ≥4; FAST ≥3) – it is recommended to continue the evaluation according to the questions remaining from AUDIT; 2) using a long questionnaire (AUDIT ≥8) to provide a short consultation;

• If alcohol dependence is suspected, it is recommended that the person be given a more detailed examination and referred to a psychiatrist for advice on possible dependence.

We suggest taking a test:

It is important that the specialist has a list of specialized care centers in the municipality, such as mental health and addiction centers, with the contact details of these centers. To monitor changes in a person’s behavior, a risk assessment of alcohol consumption should be performed on a regular basis. People who have maintained low-risk drinking habits, have reduced their alcohol intake, or have stopped using alcohol altogether should be motivated to continue to maintain positive change. Health professionals should identify the causes of relapse with those who have unsuccessfully attempted to stop drinking or continue to consume alcohol at risk and harm and discuss how this can be prevented in the future.

If the AUDIT / AUDIT-C test is performed by a single person, the doctor, nurse or medical psychologist will explain that a standard unit of alcohol (SAV) is equivalent to 10 g of pure alcohol (100%): 1 IU is 200 ml 5%. beer strength or 100 ml 11-13 percent. strength of the wine, or 60 ml of 14-18%. wine strength, or 25 ml of 38 to 40 percent. strength of alcoholic beverage. The recommendations of the Institute of Hygiene emphasize that for certain groups of people, any alcohol consumption is considered risky, regardless of the results of the tests used. These include pregnant women who plan to become pregnant, take medications that are harmful to alcohol, and all other people who are unable to drink alcohol due to a medical condition.

How safe is it to use?

As Gabija Laubner, a toxicologist at the Vilnius Republican Hospital (RVUL), told DELFI earlier, when talking about alcohol doses, people should first divide into two groups: those who are addicted to alcohol and those who are not.

“People who are addicted to alcohol cannot consume alcohol if they want to be healthy. For those people, even the lowest dose can relapse. And if we talk about people who are not addicted to alcohol, that is, global standards, alcohol is measured in standard units of alcohol, “said Laubner.

Standard alcohol unit (SAV) = 10 g of pure alcohol. According to the Institute of Hygiene, a standard unit of alcohol in Europe (10 g of absolute alcohol) contains 250 ml of 5%. strong beer, 125 ml 12 percent. strong wine, 70 ml 18 percent. fortified wine (eg sherry), 50 ml 25 percent. hard liquor or appetizer, 25 ml 40 percent. strong alcoholic beverages.

“According to the SEA, it is estimated that men should not take more than three SEA per day, women two SEA.” In terms of a week: no more than 21 IU for men and no more than 14 IU for women. Some amounts are equated to minimal health risk. The greater the number of standard units of alcohol, the greater the health risk, “says toxicologist G. Laubner.

Admittedly, a recent study by researchers, published in The Lancet, showed that safe doses of alcohol simply don’t exist.

The researchers acknowledge that moderate alcohol consumption can protect against heart disease, but they have found that the benefits outweigh the risks of cancer and other diseases, they wrote. bbc.com. Analyzing data from people ages 15 to 95, the researchers compared the health of people who did not drink at all and drank one alcohol per day.

They found that out of every 100,000. Non-alcoholic 914 people developed alcohol-related illnesses such as cancer or trauma. However, drinking one alcoholic drink a day increases the number of people who get sick or injured by four.

If two alcoholic beverages are consumed per day, the number of people who get sick increases by 63 people in a year, and if five alcoholic drinks are consumed per day, it increases by 338 people. One of the study’s authors, Professor Sonia Saxena from Imperial College London, said: “One drink a day already shows a slight increase in risk, but apply it to everyone in the country and the number will be significantly higher, and most people consume more than one drink. “

In Lithuania, the drinking group remains stable.

The study carried out by the University of Vilnius, to detail the peculiarities of consumption, distinguished four groups of users: drinkers, habitual drinkers, occasional drinkers and non-drinkers during the last 12 months.

The study shows that the group of drinkers, i. people who consume alcohol frequently and in abundance (drink daily or 2 to 4 times a week and more than 20 standard units of alcohol) remain stable in all studies and represent 5 percent of all respondents, but the amount of alcohol consumed by drinker is reduced.

Doc. Dr. Vita Karpuškienė said that, according to research data, the situation has improved since 2015. At that time, there were 15 liters of pure alcohol per person, currently this figure is less than 12 liters.

Beer is mainly consumed in Lithuania.

“We are a land of beer drinkers, but strong drinks are also nearby,” said V. Karpuškienė.

In the drink group, 90 percent. they are men, a third of whom are 60 years or older. 59 percent. They are rural residents, most of the respondents have secondary and low education. This group is over 50 percent. It consists of the unemployed: unemployed and retired. Most of them are single, single, divorced or widowed. In addition, their financial situation is the worst of all groups, with an average monthly income that does not exceed € 400 in 2019.

“The measures that have been introduced have not encouraged people not to drink in the past 12 months,” said V. Karpuškienė.

The study found that there was a significant increase in the number of people who drank and used alcohol at work. As in previous years, a very high percentage of drinkers is seen in their homes or guests. In the group of drinkers, up to 100%, and in the group of habitual drinkers: 99%.

“The good news is that the amount of alcohol we drink per week is decreasing everywhere. The amount of alcohol consumed decreased more in the group of drinkers. Regular alcohol consumption also decreased slightly, while occasional consumption stayed the same Drinkers, who represent 8 percent 28% of drinkers a week of total alcohol, “said V. Karpuškienė.

Vodka, fortified wine, strong beer, and illegal beverages are exclusively drinkable beverages. All groups consume weak beer and vodka. Occasional drinkers consume mostly natural wine, cider, whiskey, and brandy.

Alcohol consumption increased in bars and during events.

“Severe drinking episodes have become rarer. In fact, there are more people who have responded that there have been no such drinkers in the last 12 months. But if we look at the group that drinks weekly, daily or 2-4 times a week, those episodes have not changed. As often happened, it also happens now, ”said V. Karpuškienė.

Vilnius University, Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences, Ph.D. Dr. Aušrytė Rastenienė said that according to statistics, there were fewer and fewer people trying to quit drinking alcohol each year. And illegal alcohol is bought as much as before.

“How do people evaluate the measures taken by the government? <...> Last year, the increase in excise duties was rated the worst, the age limit and the advertising ban were rated the most favorable, “said A. Rastenienė.

However, statistics show that restrictions on the sale and advertising of alcohol do not affect or are unlikely to affect people who consume alcohol, according to 83%. surveyed

According to the study, the import of alcohol from abroad is very small. However, the majority of imports come from Poland and Latvia. The amount of imported beer and spirits is increasing.

According to Algirdas Bartkus, a researcher who studied Lithuania and the European Union’s excise tax policy, the increase in excise duties received the most negative evaluation: the number reaches 32 percent.

“Excise duties on alcohol are too high for all categories: spirits, beer, and wine. When evaluating the factors that determine the differences in excise duties in individual countries, it is obvious that excise duties in individual countries depend on a great measure of the level of per capita income, consumption taxes and special taxes applied by neighboring countries, “says Algirdas Bartkus.

The study was commissioned by the Lithuanian Business Confederation.