As if 2023 wasn’t hard enough, Americans are now drinking as much alcohol as they did during the Civil War days. A new report from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has found that the average American drinks about the same amount of alcohol as people did in 1860. In 2021, Americans consumed 2.51 gallons of ethanol – the alcohol found in wine, beer, and spirits – compared to 2.53 gallons at the brink of the Civil War. That amount, which doesn’t include water or other ingredients found in alcoholic beverages, marks a 60 per cent increase in liquor consumption compared to the mid-1990s. Americans have also changed their taste for alcohol. The amount of beer consumed has dropped nearly 20 per cent since 1995, while wine has steadily become America’s drink of choice. Now, 50 per cent more Americans are drinking wine than they did in the mid-1990s. This isn’t the only time the United States has seen staggering levels of alcohol consumption. In 1934, following the repeal of the Prohibition Act, Americans were drinking one gallon of ethanol per person. At the end of World War II in 1945, Americans reached 2.3 gallons. This, compared to 2.8 gallons in 1980, when alcohol consumption was at its highest. The rise in alcohol consumption may also have to do with a key demographic: women. In March, it was revealed that women in the US are out-drinking men for the first time in history. Dr George Koob, director of the NIAAA, recently told the Washington Examiner that binge drinking among college students are to blame. “In 2021, there has been an uptick, particularly among women. Now it turns out on college campuses women are actually binge drinking more than men, for the first time in history,” he told the conservative media outlet. The Covid-19 pandemic also saw a dramatic shift in alcohol consumption, as most states declared liquor stores were considered “essential businesses”. In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, sales of alcohol increased by 2.9 per cent, the biggest annual increase in more than 50 years, according to the NIAAA. Now, with college campuses back in session and local bars open again, Koob attributed the rising trend of women binge drinking to the “alcohol deprivation effect” – in which people “rebound in drinking” after a period of abstaining from alcohol. “A standard drink is 1.5 ounces of vodka, 12 ounces of beer, or five ounces of wine,” he said. “When you go past a standard drink, you really are getting to the point where alcohol ultimately becomes a toxin. You can easily overdose.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that it’s safe for women to drink no more than one standard alcoholic beverage a day, and no more than two for men. However, binge drinking usually corresponds to five or more drinks on a single occasion for men, while four or more drinks on a single occasion for women. Read More Moderate alcohol consumption may lower stress, reduce heart disease risk, study finds Man dies after eating raw oysters from Missouri seafood stand Hip surgery policies based on weight ‘worsen health inequality’, study warns TikToker cooks rack of ribs in hotel bathroom using only items from his room BBQ salad recipes without a soggy lettuce leaf in sight How to shop for and cook Japanese food at home like a pro

The United Nations chief is urging the international community to deploy a multinational force comprising “police special forces and military support units” to Haiti to combat gangs with sophisticated weapons and restore security to the impoverished Caribbean nation

LONDON Britain said on Thursday it was weighing how to respond to a decision by U.S. President Joe

Emmie Sperandeo seems to have gone offline for good after a very bad accident

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel's intelligence agency Shin Bet said it thwarted an Iranian espionage attempt on Friday when it detained and

Oil steadied in Asia after jumping almost 3% on Wednesday as optimism the US would resolve its debt-ceiling

By Makini Brice WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has been medically cleared to continue with his schedule,

Patrick Mahomes threw for 424 yards and four touchdowns, Travis Kelce caught 12 passes for 179 yards and a score, and the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Los Angeles Chargers 31-17

By Aidan Lewis and Hatem Maher CAIRO For Egyptians grown used to a decade of reliable power supplies

Keanu Labatte and the survivor had been seeing each other for two months before he drove to her college from Granite Falls

Joe Rogan will return to the commentary table with Jon Anik and Daniel Cormier for the first time since UFC 292 in August 2023

A new study finds that hurricanes the last few decades killed thousands more people than meteorologists calculate and a disproportionate number were poor, vulnerable and minorities