A new report has found that of the three regional municipalities in the local health unit’s catchment area, Wellington has the fewest drinkers.
A survey of local and provincial data on Wellington County, Dufferin County and the City of Guelph shows fewer Wellington residents reported drinking alcohol within the last 12 months than residents in the rest of the region.
A report presented at the April 1 Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health (WDGPH) board meeting stated the goal was to discover current drinking patterns of residents as well as the factors that influence the way people drink alcohol and how alcohol is related to disease and injury.
According to the report, titled A report on Alcohol in Wellington, Dufferin, and Guelph, 79 per cent of residents surveyed in Wellington reported consuming alcohol in the last 12 months, whereas 81% and 83% reported consuming alcohol in the last 12 months in Dufferin and Guelph respectively.
The same pattern is true for those found to exceed one or more of the low-risk alcohol drinking guidelines (LRADG). In Wellington 43% of those surveyed exceeded one or more LRADGs, and 56% and 51% of residents surveyed in Dufferin and Guelph respectively reported exceeding the same guidelines.
When it came to alcohol sales, Dufferin took the top spot, averaging 60.4L per person, while Guelph averaged 52L per person and Wellington averaged 38.6L per person.
“Both alcohol availability and alcohol sales trends mirror the drinking behaviour trends of WDG residents such that a higher portion of residents from the City of Guelph and Dufferin County report drinking and exceeding at least one of the low-risk drinking guidelines compared to Wellington County,” the report stated.
With regards to youth, 22% of Grade 7 students and 66% of Grade 10 students throughout the region in 2012 reported having at least one drink in the past 12 months, the report stated. This information was gathered through a youth survey by WDGPH.
When binge drinking – defined as five or more drinks on one occasion – was examined among Grade 10 youths throughout the region, those in Dufferin were significantly more likely to report binge drinking than those in Wellington or Guelph, the report said.
“What we found here and this is sort of a first look [and] may be greater analyzed in the future, is that in Wellington, Dufferin, Guelph … more people drink in our population than in the province as a whole,” said medical officer of health Dr. Nicola Mercer.
In total, the proportion of Wellington, Dufferin and Guelph residents who reported drinking in the last 12 months was 81%, while the provincial average was 72%.
“Alcohol is such a societal commodity,” Mercer said at the meeting. “So we use it to celebrate … and so there’s huge economic benefits to the province but it’s also a commodity that has significant … safety concerns, social and economic burdens if it’s consumed inappropriately.”
WDGPH board member Allen Taylor asked whether the results would be significantly different if alcohol was more widely available at retail outlets in the region.
Mercer said she would need more research to answer that question.
“We should look at areas where they have had a change in the way they regulate this commodity,” Mercer said. “So there are examples in the states where they have increased the availability through sales through convenience stores and what you can say for sure is certain things definitely went up; teen pregnancy, violent crime, statistics can directly correlate it with the increased availability of alcohol.”
A few of the low-risk guidelines for women include: drinking no more than two alcoholic beverages a day, not exceeding three on any given day and consuming no more than 10 a week. On a special occasion women should have no more than three drinks. For men the guidelines include: no more than three alcoholic beverages a day, no more than four on any given day and a limit of 15 per week. On a special occasion men should not exceed more than four alcoholic beverages.
