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posted by chromas on Saturday November 17 2018, @07:47AM   Printer-friendly
from the think-I'll-move dept.

Where you Live Could Influence how Much you Drink:

Where you live could influence how much you drink. According to new research from the University of Pittsburgh Division of Gastroenterology, people living in colder regions with less sunlight drink more alcohol than their warm-weather counterparts.

The study, recently published online in Hepatology, found that as temperature and sunlight hours dropped, alcohol consumption increased. Climate factors also were tied to binge drinking and the prevalence of alcoholic liver disease, one of the main causes of mortality in patients with prolonged excessive alcohol use.

"It's something that everyone has assumed for decades, but no one has scientifically demonstrated it. Why do people in Russia drink so much? Why in Wisconsin? Everybody assumes that's because it's cold," said senior author Ramon Bataller, M.D., Ph.D., chief of hepatology at UPMC, professor of medicine at Pitt, and associate director of the Pittsburgh Liver Research Center. "But we couldn't find a single paper linking climate to alcohol intake or alcoholic cirrhosis. This is the first study that systematically demonstrates that worldwide and in America, in colder areas and areas with less sun, you have more drinking and more alcoholic cirrhosis."

Alcohol is a vasodilator – it increases the flow of warm blood to the skin, which is full of temperature sensors – so drinking can increase feelings of warmth. In Siberia that could be pleasant, but not so much in the Sahara.

Drinking also is linked to depression, which tends to be worse when sunlight is scarce and there's a chill in the air.

Using data from the World Health Organization, the World Meteorological Organization and other large, public data sets, Bataller's group found a clear negative correlation between climate factors – average temperature and sunlight hours – and alcohol consumption, measured as total alcohol intake per capita, percent of the population that drinks alcohol, and the incidence of binge drinking.

The researchers also found evidence that climate contributed to a higher burden of alcoholic liver disease. These trends were true both when comparing across countries around the world and also when comparing across counties within the United States.

Journal Reference
Meritxell Ventura-Cots, Ariel E. Watts, Monica Cruz-Lemini, et. al. Colder weather and fewer sunlight hours increase alcohol consumption and alcoholic cirrhosis worldwide. Hepatology, 2018; DOI: 10.1002/hep.30315


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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by fraxinus-tree on Saturday November 17 2018, @12:29PM (3 children)

    by fraxinus-tree (5590) on Saturday November 17 2018, @12:29PM (#763066)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_belts_of_Europe [wikipedia.org] - and yes, Swedes and Finns drink more than Germans, who in turn drink more than Italians and Greeks. Known for sure, for at least 2000 years.

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  • (Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Saturday November 17 2018, @02:25PM (2 children)

    by bobthecimmerian (6834) on Saturday November 17 2018, @02:25PM (#763095)

    The wikipedia page you linked doesn't back up your assertion, it just states that traditionally wines are associated with southern Europe, beer with middle Europe, and hard liquor with northern Europe. It doesn't have statistics for volume, except for one claim without evidence that Russian consumption of beer is 67 liters per capita per year.

    With respect to depression, if not alcohol consumption, my wife and I have poorer moods and lower energy levels in the winter months. We've talked of moving south, but almost all of our friends and family are within a few hours of here.

    • (Score: 2) by fraxinus-tree on Saturday November 17 2018, @03:42PM

      by fraxinus-tree (5590) on Saturday November 17 2018, @03:42PM (#763127)

      I agree, wiki page has remote connection to my statement. Drinking different drinks with different alcohol content and different social aura results in getting different average alcohol intake. An average Finn drinks as much (in volume) vodka as an average Greek drinks wine. The net result is not surprising.

      As for moving south, it is harder in Europe. At least, we speak about 20 completely different languages and most people don't bother learning a different one. So use your luck

    • (Score: 2) by fritsd on Saturday November 17 2018, @05:07PM

      by fritsd (4586) on Saturday November 17 2018, @05:07PM (#763147) Journal

      it just states that traditionally wines are associated with southern Europe, beer with middle Europe, and hard liquor with northern Europe.

      About a hundred years ago, the Swedish apple-ologists made a detailed microclimate map of Sweden: Sweden microclimate zone map [tradgard.org].
      The pomologues divided the country in climate zones. So that they had good answers to "can I grow an apple tree of race X in my garden, or will it probably be too cold?". For example in klimatzon 4-5 you can still grow most vegetables, but it's not guaranteed that your paprikas, beans, pumpkins and cherries have time to ripen (so don't bother with those).
      Swedes are very big on potatoes, carrots, parsnips and (of course) swedes instead.

      I thought that barley (what beer gets made from) doesn't grow as well above climate zone 2.
      So I checked, and I was totally wrong! (learn something new every day on the Internet)
      Even in Norrbotten (klimatzon 6-8 , probably not on the subarctic mountains) it grows apparently?!?

      So then I don't actually know why northern Europeans prefer hard liquor over beer.
      Although Zubrowka vodka is nice, I guess.