Gill Jan S, Donaghy Marie
School of Health Sciences, Queen Margaret University College, Leith, Edinburgh EH6 8HX, UK.
Health Educ Res. 2004 Oct;19(5):485-91.
The standard UK alcohol unit is used to record alcohol consumption and, in health promotion, as a useful yardstick by which the public may be encouraged to monitor their own drinking levels. To investigate the correspondence between this standard unit and the actual amount contained in the 'usual' drink poured by a sample of the Scottish public, participants (n=251) were recruited from three employers in a major city--a manufacturer, an academic and a financial institution. Following a brief questionnaire, participants were asked to pour their usual drink of wine, and then spirit, into a glass. Among drinkers (n=238), the mean amount of alcohol in a drink of wine corresponded to not 1, but 1.92 UK units. For spirit, the corresponding figure was 2.3 UK units. For wine, 43% of the sample poured more than 2 units, for spirit, 55%. (Males poured significantly more spirit than females.) These findings may have important implications for individuals who wish to promote and to adopt sensible drinking practices when consuming wine and spirit at home. Also, the reliability of many consumption surveys, where there is often the implicit assumption that a 'drink' is equivalent to a 'standard unit', must be questioned.
英国标准酒精单位用于记录酒精摄入量，在健康促进方面，它是一个有用的衡量标准，借此鼓励公众监测自己的饮酒量。为了调查这个标准单位与苏格兰公众样本所倒“平常”饮品中实际酒精含量之间的对应关系，从一个大城市的三家雇主单位——一家制造商、一所学术机构和一家金融机构招募了参与者（n = 251）。在完成一份简短问卷后，要求参与者将他们平常喝的葡萄酒，然后是烈酒，倒入一个杯子中。在饮酒者（n = 238）中，一杯葡萄酒中的平均酒精含量并非1个英国标准单位，而是1.92个。对于烈酒，相应数字是2.3个英国标准单位。对于葡萄酒，43%的样本倒出的量超过2个单位，对于烈酒，这一比例为55%。（男性倒出的烈酒明显多于女性。）这些发现可能对那些希望在家中饮用葡萄酒和烈酒时倡导并采取明智饮酒习惯的个人具有重要意义。此外，许多消费调查的可靠性也必须受到质疑，因为这些调查常常隐含地假设一杯“饮品”等同于一个“标准单位”。
