Filed under: Wine, British Isles, Trends, Spirits, Health & Medical

Due to falling alcohol prices, "drink wars" in pubs and sales at supermarkets, it looks like this could be the booziest Christmas ever in Britain. The average Briton will drink a surprisingly large amount over the holiday: 18 pints of beer, three bottles of wine, one bottle of spirits and four glasses of fortified wine. That comes out to 137 units of alcohol in a little over a week. Given that the maximum limit recommend for men is only 21 units and 14 units for women, health officials are concerned about people's health. Increasing your alcohol consumption by 4 to 6 times is not good for your health at any time.

Britain is known as a big-drinking (or binge drinking, depending on who you ask) country, with the average person consuming 200 liters of alcoholic drinks in 2006, which comes out to more than 8 billion liters for the whole country.

Health officials and groups are encouraging companies to cut back on and.or eliminate their advertising that appeals to young people and to consider restricting the sales of "alcopop" drinks, the sugared, colored, sweet concoctions that are clearly, in most eyes, not "aimed at adults." Even if changes are instituted, it won't have any effect on this holiday season, but next year, those officials might be able to rest a little easier.