Americans are drinking less alcohol particularly beer – articulated a report published in the August edition of The American Journal of Medicine. Researchers looked at records from the Framingham Heart Study. These 8000 records measured alcohol consumption over a 50 year period on subjects born between the years 1900 to 1959, interviewing them every four years from 1948 to 2003.  Researchers found a number of changes in alcohol intake but no change in illness or disorders related to alcohol consumption.

Among the changes they noticed, was an increase in wine consumption replacing beer. The researchers also noted that the people born in the later part of the 20th century drank less than those born in the early part. They also noted that alcohol consumption reduces as people age.   

Yuqing Zhang of the Boston University School of Medicine, lead investigator said that though the rate of consumption of hard liquor has decreased over the last 50 years, health problems related to alcohol, did not decline. "The findings in this study may be considered encouraging in many ways: The average amount of alcohol has decreased in more recently born cohorts, the percentage of the population exhibiting 'moderate' alcohol intake has been increasing steadily, and the percentage reporting 'heavy' drinking has decreased over time," Zhang, and his team of researchers wrote in their study.

The researchers said though Americans are becoming more health conscious especially in relation to alcohol consumption, the proportion of people suffering from alcohol related diseases like alcoholic cardiomyopathy or alcoholic cirrhosis remained steady across all age groups.

This makes it important to continue to spread awareness about alcohol related illness felt Zhang and his fellow researchers.