Distilled Spirits Overconsumption as the Most Important Factor of Excessive Adult Male Mortality in Europe

Abstract

Spirits consumption is a major risk factor of adult male mortality, with significantly greater impact compared to beer and wine. Therefore, reduction in distilled spirits consumption in hard liquor drinking areas should be a major target in health policy.

Impact of Taxation Policy on Household Spirit Consumption and Public-Finance Sustainability

“…Households with more men spend a larger part of their budget on spirits. Studies for other Central and Eastern Europe countries also showed that men consume spirits more frequently, in larger quantities, and with a higher percentage of pure alcohol than women do [8,9].…”

“…Considering a specific group, percentages were 30%, 21%, 39% for spirits, wine, and beer, respectively. The percentages indicated a high level of alcoholic-beverage consumption, which could be a sign of a higher percentage of people with addiction and related health problems [3,7,8].…”

“…Additionally, the highest price comparing all commodities was in the group of spirit beverages. A number of health studies indicated that spirits have the most intense impact on addiction and the consequently imposed health and social problems compared to other groups of alcoholic products [7,8].…”

“…The excessive consumption of alcohol, separately or in combination with other psychoactive substances, is one of the leading causes of preventable death, noncommunicable diseases, and other negative socioeconomic outcomes (crime, road incidents, violence, workplace-productivity loss) [1][2][3][4][5][6]. The adverse effects of alcohol are more closely related to people who drink frequently, belong to disadvantaged groups, and heavily drink spirits rather than beer or wine [7][8][9]. Moreover, excessive alcohol consumption, especially in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), could cause growing disparity in health, poverty, and nonproductivity [6,10,11].…”

“…Despite the evident presence of health research regarding the harmful effects of spirits [3,7,8], there is a lack of research dealing with the economic effects of alcohol demand and related tax policies. Lack of these studies is notably evident in LMICs.…”