Mumbai : The alcohol consumption in the country has increased by 55 per cent during 1992 to 2012; this was revealed by a recent report of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on May 12. Following which, this has raised concerns among the medical fraternity as alcohol consumption is a major health issue and is leading to serious diseases including cancer, liver cirrhosis and hypertensive heart disease.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO), about 30 per cent of Indians consume alcohol, out of which 4 to 13 per cent are daily consumers and up to 50 per cent of these fall under the category of hazardous drinking. Another worrying trend from India is that the average age of initiation of alcohol use has reduced from 28 years during the 1980 to 17 years in 2007.
Dr P C Gupta, director of Sekhsaria Institute of Public Health, said, “The Mumbai Cohort Study conducted by Healis revealed that alcohol consumption has caused increased risk of mortality. The study also demonstrated that the risk multiplies when alcohol is consumed along with tobacco which is another lethal consumer product.”
Alcohol abuse is a major public health problem globally. It is a causal factor in more than 60 major types of diseases; these majorly include several types of cancer, hemorrhagic stroke and hypertensive heart disease, cardiovascular diseases, liver cirrhosis and neuropsychiatric diseases.
Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, Oncologists at Tata Memorial Hospital, said, “The rapid rise in alcohol consumption is an alarming statistic for public health. So far alcohol has not been considered as a public health problem and no alcohol control policies are in place from public health point of view. These reports and studies clearly underline the need for a comprehensive national policy on alcohol control.”
