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High alcohol consumption in Germany: results of the German National Health Interview and Examination Survey 1998

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2007

Martina Burger  and
Gert BM Mensink
Martina Burger*
Affiliation:
Robert Koch-Institute, Department of Epidemiology and Health Reporting, Seestraße 10, D-13353, Berlin, Germany
Gert BM Mensink
Affiliation:
Robert Koch-Institute, Department of Epidemiology and Health Reporting, Seestraße 10, D-13353, Berlin, Germany
*
*Corresponding author: Email BurgerM@rki.de
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Abstract

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Objective:

To analyse the alcohol consumption behaviour of the German adult population, with a focus on the characteristics of persons drinking more than the tolerable upper alcohol intake level (TUAL) of 10–12 g day−1 for healthy adult women and 20–24 g day−1 for healthy adult men.

Design and setting: For the German National Health Interview and Examination Survey 1998, a representative sample of free-living adults was drawn. A total of 7124 participants were interviewed comprehensively about their sociodemographic background, lifestyle and eating habits including alcohol consumption.

Subjects:

A sub-sample of 4030 women and men, 18–79 years old, who were involved in the integrated German Nutrition Survey.

Results:

About 16% of women and 31% of men had mean alcohol consumption above the TUAL. Among other factors, the inclination to exceed the TUAL was related to middle-age, high socio-economic status, smoking and use of soft drugs. Among both women and men, a high proportion of persons drinking above the TUAL was observed among those consuming low amounts of soft drinks, fruit, poultry, milk products, bread and cake/biscuits. Women preferred to drink wine, whereas men preferred to drink beer.

Conclusions:

Many Germans have an alcohol consumption level above the TUAL and thus are supposed to be at increased risk for alcohol-associated diseases.

Keywords

Alcohol consumptionDietGermanyLifestyleSociodemographicsTolerable upper alcoholintake level
Type
Research Article
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 7 , Issue 7 , October 2004 , pp. 879 - 884
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2004

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