How Men's and Women's Drinking Habits Change With Age, in Graph Form
Photo: Colin Cooke/StockFood
Care for a drink, or perhaps several? The answer may come down to age and sex.
A recent study of British drinking habits published in the journal BMC Medicine suggests that men reach their drinking prime at age 25, while women don’t max out until 40. And that’s not the only difference between the sexes: At their thirstiest, men down the American equivalent of a considerable 13 drinks a week, whereas women quaff a more modest four.
What’s to account for the difference? We’ll let you draw your own conclusions. We have a hunch that rowdy college drinking is in part to thank, not to mention the fact that there are about four glasses–worth of wine to every bottle.
Photo: BMC Medicine
Among the study’s other fascinating points: Frequent drinking becomes more common in middle and older age, most often with men. And alcohol abstinence was super rare across the board: “Non-drinkers were uncommon, particularly among men, where the proportion remained under 10 percent until old age, when it rose to above 20 percent among those aged over 90,” the researchers wrote.
Given the study, one fact is definitely clear: Men and women of all ages enjoy a good drink.
(Something to note about the above graph: The study considers a single unit of alcohol to be eight grams, whereas a standard drink the U.S. is 14 grams. Go big or go home, as we say in the States.)
[h/t BoingBoing]
More boozy stories to sip on:
3 easy cocktails that let sweet vermouth shine
5 things you didn’t know about the Moscow Mule
How many drinks to you have a week? Tell us below!
