Influence Of Alcohol In American Culture

Reasons for particular ethnicities to consume alcohol are characterized by cultural traditions and social lifestyles. In 2008-2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) for its Global Alcohol Database conducted a Global Survey on Alcohol and Health and found that the highest consumption of alcohol per person above the age of 15 was found in the European Region (EURO) at 12.2. This is mostly due to the historic diet and lifestyle of the region (WHO, 2008)[6]. The European region has always had a long history of alcohol consumption especially due to many countries in the European union facing several wars in their lifetime alcohol consumption was necessary to keep many soldiers and their families going during periods of warfare. Some of the highest per capita consumption of alcohol was found in countries such as Luxembourg, Ireland, …show more content…
Both the European and Region of Americas have shown a 20% increase in alcohol consumption. The African Region (AFRO) and West Pacific Region (WPRO) follow with similar per capita consumption of each other at 6.2 and 6.3, respectively. At the lower end, the South-East Region (SEARO) displays a 2.2 per capita consumption and the lowest per capita consumption occurs in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO) at 0.7 (WHO, 2007-2008)[6]. In particular, countries around the Mediterranean area tend to exhibit a “wet culture” where they incorporate alcoholic beverages as apart of their diet. As a result heavy drinking or binge drinking is pretty low in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. While the wet culture does not justify the entirety of the low per capita consumption in this area, it is still a significant cultural pattern to explain this data (Bloomfield et al,