Overconsumption of alcohol destroys the lives of more and more young people in Europe

British teenage girls are starting to drink alcohol at the average age of 13,
a new study shows according to The Telegraph. Photo: Christopher Pledger

According to The Telegraph, British researchers have found that today's teenagers start drinking an average of two years younger than women who are now in their mid-twenties did, with most admitting that they had drunk alcohol by the age of 13 or 14.

It is to assume that similar figures apply to many other countries in Europe.

Drinking from a younger age leads teenagers to go on to consume alcohol more heavily, the study also found.

Doctors warn that changes in drinking habits are leading to a rapid rise in the number of young individuals with liver problems.

They say that they are seeing increasing numbers of women in their 20s and 30s with cirrhosis of the liver, a disease virtually unheard of in that age group a decade ago.

A report by a Government watchdog warns that 10 million people in Britain are now drinking at "hazardous" levels.

RELATED ARTICLE
Girls of today are 'stressed, drunk and discriminated against', report finds 

Doctors have warned that more people die from alcohol than breast cancer, cervical cancer and MRSA, the hospital superbug, combined.

The study, of 208 women ranging in age from 16 to 24, found that as well as starting to drink at an earlier age, today's teenagers also tended to drink more on typical nights out than women in their twenties.
Overall, three quarters of those asked admitted that they drank more than five units each time they went out, significantly more than the two to three units that women are advised is their daily recommended limit.

In total, six per cent of the women surveyed admitted that they had drunk their entire week's recommended intake in just one night, while one said that she drank 49 units, the equivalent of eight bottles of wine.

The study, carried out by nurses at a sexual health clinic in southern England, also found that the women were more likely to take unnecessary risks after they had been drinking.
One said that she would rather spend her last £5 to buy a kebab and walk home alone, than pay for a taxi.

Others said they had unprotected sex, got into cars with strange men, and even seen their friends fall asleep on roundabouts, after a night spent drinking, the study, carried out by researchers at the University of Manchester and highlighted by Nursing Standard magazine shows.

"Women are commencing drinking at an earlier age and are experiencing the negative consequences of alcohol but show no activity to curb this activity," concluded Valerie McMunn, who carried out the study.
"The negative aspects of their behaviour puts their sexual, physical and psychological health at risk," she added.

Don Shenker, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, said: "This confirms the worrying trend that young girls in the UK are fast catching up with boys in their drinking patterns. We already know that the younger people are when they start drinking, the more likely they are to have problems with alcohol later in life. UK teens drink more than most of their European peers and the growth in consumption is not showing any sign of slowing down. There is a fast growing drinking culture among young people, and girls find themselves under a lot of pressure to emulate a popular image, which includes being drunk or drinking often. Falling prices of alcohol mean that with typical weekly pocket money teenagers can now buy large amounts of alcohol, and many can still get it with ease from supermarkets and off-licenses."