More Americans are drinking high amounts of alcohol, and the greatest increases are seen among women and older adults, according to a new study published in JAMA Psychiatry. In the new report, researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism compared two large studies of people who self-reported their drinking habits. The first was a study of more than 43,000 adults from 2001-2002, and the second included more than 36,000 adults from 2012-2013. A previous study had shown that between 1971 and 2011, alcohol advertising in the U.S. increased more than 400 percent. The author of the earlier study concluded that since overall per capita consumption of alcohol had not increased in that time, advertising did not affect drinking rates. The new study raises the question as to whether increased advertising has a distinct influence on populations at risk of heavy drinking.
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