Consumption of vodka is a tradition in Russia, of course, but it is also linked to 35% of deaths of men under 55. The International Agency for Research on Cancer and researchers at the University of Oxford, UK, analyzed the rate of premature death in 151,000 people aged 35 to 74 who drank at least three bottles of vodka per week . Between 1999 and 2010, 8,000 people died, reveals the study, published by the medical journal The Lancet.
In question: the ingestion of adulterated alcohol, accidents, violence and suicides, not to mention alcohol-related diseases such as cancers throat and liver, tuberculosis, pneumonia and hepatitis. In Russia, the life expectancy of men is 64 years (compared to 78 years for the French), for an average consumption of 20 liters of vodka per year.
The influence of the social climate
“The death rate of Russians has fluctuated a lot over the past 30 years, with restrictions on alcohol and the social climate varying a lot under the presidencies of Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Putin. And the main element guiding these fluctuations, it’s vodka, “Richard Peto, one of the authors of this study, told AFP. Russian women are also affected by Alcohol consumption, but in a much less alarming proportion than men.
