Middle classes labelled hazardous wine drinkers

Middle-class wine drinkers have been slammed by the media after a study showed them to be the worst offenders when it comes to hazardous levels of drinking alcohol.

Figures for the study, which involved every local authority in the country, found that up to one in four people in some affluent areas are drinking weekly amounts classed as hazardous. For women, this is between 15 and 35 units a week, which is equivalent to around five to 12 large glasses of 12% alcohol wine. For men, it is between 22 and 50 units, equivalent to seven to 17 large glasses.

Harrogate, Runnymede and seven areas in Surrey, including Guildford and Mole Valley, were found to have some of the highest hazardous wine sippers in the country, according to the figures compiled by the North West Public Health Observatory (NWPHO).

NWPHO researcher Dr Karen Tocque told ThirtyFifty that hazardous drinkers have never been identified before because previously studies have focussed on binge-drinking and under-age drinking.

‘People don’t believe the amount of alcohol they are consuming is doing them any harm. But the fact is people in these areas are dying from alcohol-related causes,’ she said.

However, it is still in the poorer areas where harmful drinking is most prevalent. This is classed as anything above the levels for hazardous and, although it affects a smaller proportion of people, is the most dangerous. Manchester and Liverpool top the league table here.