A new study says that people success and harmful drinking are closely related. Does being rich hide one of the most pressing social issues today?
Harmful drinking had always been associated with people who are depressed and lonely due to a variety of reasons, including poverty. But binge drinking is not exclusive to the less priviledged.
A group of researchers recently found a close link between success and harmful drinking. The study defines "successful" people as "healthy, active, sociable and well off" - most of them at their 50s.
It also describes harmful drinking as a "social phenomenon."
"We can sketch the problem of harmful drinking among people aged 50 or over as a 'middle class phenomenon'. These are healthy people with higher income, higher educational attainment, socially more active and are more likely to drink at harmful levels," the researchers wrote in the BMJ Open Journal.
"Our findings suggest that harmful drinking in later life is more prevalent among people who exhibit a lifestyle associated with affluence," it said.
The study compared the drinking habits of about 9,000 sucessful, wealthy and educated men and women in their 50s and found those who were wealthier and better educated consumed more than 21 units of beer a week for men and more than 14 units of wine a week for women.
Authors of the study warned that affluent baby boomers were "sleepwalking" to ill health.
Lead author Professor Jose Iparraguirre, Chief Economist at Age UK, called for UK government to lower drinking guidelines for older people.
Ipaguirre added that results of the study breaks the notion that people who belong to the low-income class are the heaviest drinkers in the country.
"Our analysis challenges popular perceptions of who is drinking too much," Ipaguirre said. "It suggests public health messaging is not reaching high-income groups who are most at risk.
"Because this group is typically healthier than other parts of the older population, they might not realise that what they are doing is putting their health in danger," He added.
