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You Need To Have Ten Drinks A Day To Be In The Top 10% Of American Drinkers

By Melissa McEwen in Food on Sep 26, 2014 3:30PM

The top 10 percent of American drinkers imbibe a staggering average of 10 drinks a day. That's from data reported in the Washington Post from Philip J. Cook's Paying the Tab, an examination of alcohol control in the US utilizing data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC).

While those of us who consume alcohol more modestly might be impressed by these top drinkers, unfortunately for them they fit the medical definition of binge drinking, which puts them at risk for alcoholism and associated health problems. The main entity benefitting from this is the alcohol industry, as these top drinkers account for over 50% of the alcohol consumed.

On the flip-side are people in the bottom three deciles of the data, who consume no alcohol and presumably mostly live in Utah. Of those who do drink, most don't drink to excess- the median consumption among drinkers is only three drinks a week.