The alcohol industry depends for its profits on those consumers that use alcohol in excessive amounts, regularly exceeding the recommended daily intake of alcohol, a new report has found.
More than 3.8 million Australians average more than four standard drinks of alcohol a day, twice the recommended health guidelines, and these alcohol users are targeted by the alcohol industry and branded as “super consumers”, according to the latest report from the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education.
Although they represent just 20% of Australians aged 14 and above, these excessive alcohol users accounted for 74.2% of all the alcohol consumed nationally each year, the report says. This group of alcohol users – or in the language of Big Alcohol “super consumers” – is essential to the profit margins of the alcohol industry.
Further reading and TV interview with FARE’s Michael Thorn: “One in five Australians consume three quarters of alcohol, report finds“, from the Sydney Morning Heralds