How many glasses are in a bottle of wine? It depends how large the glass is, you could joke. A more serious question would be how many standard drinks are in a bottle of wine? No idea? You’re not alone. A lot of people are ignorant to how much alcohol they are consuming because they don’t know what a standard drink consists of.

“There could be between seven and nine standard drinks in a bottle of wine,” says Rolande Anderson, national alcohol project director for the Irish College of General Practitioners.

According to World Health Organisation guidelines, an adult male should have no more than 21 standard drinks a week, with a maximum of 14 standard drinks recommended for an adult female. “Above 50 [standard drinks] for a male and 35 for a female is considered to be harmful,” the guidelines state.

In the UK, the daily recommendation is less than three or four standard drinks for an adult male or two or three standard drinks for an adult female, with drink-free days in between.

According to Anderson, research undertaken a few years ago showed that the two large increases in alcohol consumption were in the older and younger age groups.

“Because of the cost of drinking in pubs, because of the drink-driving issue [and] the smoking ban… it’s very reasonable to assume people are drinking at home.”

Drinking at home, he says, is a real problem because people are not drinking standard measures. One standard drink or unit of alcohol is 10g of pure alcohol. In other words, it is a 284ml glass of stout, cider or lager; 100ml of wine; or a pub measure of a spirit (35.5ml). A pint is two standard drinks, a long-neck bottle is about 1.5 standard drinks and a small (187ml) bottle of wine is almost two standard drinks. A generous home measure of spirits could be two or three standard drinks, sometimes more.

According to Anderson, triggers for increased alcohol consumption in an older person include “bereavement, isolation, loneliness, loss of faculties, retirement, any of those life events that can happen.”

He adds: “In those circumstances, a big danger is if someone is drinking on their own and drinking the same as they used to drink. Most people are in a situation where they are drinking more than is good for them; there’s no dependence. In those circumstances, they should just reduce the amount that they drink and try and stick to the guidelines.”

If a person is concerned about their drinking habits, Anderson suggests speaking to their GP. “Just be open about it. They won’t be judged; it’s just a discussion about it,” he advises.

If you’re worried about a relative’s drinking, there’s no simple advice. If it involves alcohol dependency, people need professional advice.

Age-related health problems can also have repercussions. People on medication should discuss the interaction between their medication and alcohol with their GP, Anderson warns.

Alcohol-related falls and accidents for people with osteoporosis can be a big issue. He adds that sometimes a person with an alcohol problem is mistaken for someone with a dementia problem because they have memory loss and so on.

Referring to more senior people with a drink problem, Anderson notes that “one of the sad things is they’re often excluded, because of an alcohol issue, from seeing their grandchildren or babysitting. It’s one of the saddest things I come across in my work. Because they’re drinking on their own, sometimes the children cannot trust them with minding the babies.”

What do you think?
Does our society rely too much on alcohol?
Do younger people drink more or less than we did?