Comments on: 10 Tips To Help Parents Help Their Children Avoid Underage Drinking http://www.breakingthecycles.com/blog/2008/12/04/10-tips-to-help-parents-help-their-children-avoid-underage-drinking/ ...using 21st century brain and addiction-related research to change how we talk about, treat and prevent substance misuse, underage drinking, addiction and secondhand drinking/drugging. Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:40:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 hourly 1 By: LisaF http://www.breakingthecycles.com/blog/2008/12/04/10-tips-to-help-parents-help-their-children-avoid-underage-drinking/comment-page-1/#comment-107 LisaF Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:30:43 +0000 http://www.breakingthecycles.com/blog/?p=108#comment-107 A reader of this post on another blog raised the concern about the numbers of drinks described in #1, Model Moderation, and wondered where the statistic came from, and she shared how their [she and her husband's] decision not to drink at all has helped their children. I thought she raised some excellent points that required further explanation on my part so I’m sharing them here, as well… The statistic comes from the NIAAA’s (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) 2005 “Clinician’s Guide, Helping Patients Who Drink Too Much”(1), which reads: “Drinking becomes too much when it causes or elevates the risk for alcohol-related problems or complicates the management of other health problems. According to epidemiologic research, men who drink more than 4 standard drinks in a day (or more than 14 per week) and women who drink more than 3 in a day (or more than 7 per week) are at increased risk for alcohol-related problems.” It’s not all that different than the USDA’s 2005 Dietary Guidelines(2), which state that moderate drinking for men who choose to drink is 2 per day (which total 14 for the week, if two are consumed daily) and for women who choose to drink, it’s 1 per day (which total 7 for the week, if one is consumed, daily). Thus, under the NIAAA’s guidelines, the figures for daily/weekly need to be taken in context, together. To her point of not drinking at all — she and her husband are not alone. The USDA Dietary Guidelines also report that “[f]orty-five percent of U.S. adults do not drink any alcohol at all.” (1) http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/Practitioner/CliniciansGuide2005/clinicians_guide2_intro.htm (2) http://www.health.gov/DIETARYGUIDELINES/dga2005/document/html/chapter9.htm A reader of this post on another blog raised the concern about the numbers of drinks described in #1, Model Moderation, and wondered where the statistic came from, and she shared how their [she and her husband's] decision not to drink at all has helped their children. I thought she raised some excellent points that required further explanation on my part so I’m sharing them here, as well…

The statistic comes from the NIAAA’s (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) 2005 “Clinician’s Guide, Helping Patients Who Drink Too Much”(1), which reads: “Drinking becomes too much when it causes or elevates the risk for alcohol-related problems or complicates the management of other health problems. According to epidemiologic research, men who drink more than 4 standard drinks in a day (or more than 14 per week) and women who drink more than 3 in a day (or more than 7 per week) are at increased risk for alcohol-related problems.”

It’s not all that different than the USDA’s 2005 Dietary Guidelines(2), which state that moderate drinking for men who choose to drink is 2 per day (which total 14 for the week, if two are consumed daily) and for women who choose to drink, it’s 1 per day (which total 7 for the week, if one is consumed, daily). Thus, under the NIAAA’s guidelines, the figures for daily/weekly need to be taken in context, together.

To her point of not drinking at all — she and her husband are not alone. The USDA Dietary Guidelines also report that “[f]orty-five percent of U.S. adults do not drink any alcohol at all.”

(1) http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/Practitioner/CliniciansGuide2005/clinicians_guide2_intro.htm

(2) http://www.health.gov/DIETARYGUIDELINES/dga2005/document/html/chapter9.htm

]]>