British are mindful of alcohol excess

A new report says that just under half of British drinkers give "a high amount of attention" to drinking in moderation.

The same Datamonitor report also found that just under 20% of the adult population - 9.4 million people - are teetotal.

According to Datamonitor, there is still some public confusion over what is meant by "binge drinking".

It said: "Among the medical fraternity, a ‘binge’ is widely agreed to be five or more drinks in one session.

"The public associates binge drinking with the violent and anti-social behaviour widely covered by the media, which is usually the result of some consumers drinking significantly more than five drinks at a time.

"This gap in perception has helped to spread erroneous fears that binge drinking is a common occurrence for many adults."

Datamonitor's consumer markets analyst Matthew Taylor warned: “When promoting alcoholic drinks, marketers must be aware that responsible consumption is desired by the majority."