© Alexei Sazonov, AP
London - Russian men who down large amounts of vodka - and too many do - have an "extraordinarily" high risk of an early death, a new study says.
Researchers tracked about 151,000 adult men in the Russian cities of Barnaul, Byisk and Tomsk from 1999 to 2010. They interviewed them about their drinking habits and, when about 8,000 later died, followed up to monitor their causes of death.
The risk of dying before age 55 for those who said they drank three or more half-liter bottles of vodka a week was a shocking 35%.
Overall, a quarter of Russian men die before reaching 55, compared with 7% of men in the United Kingdom and less than 1% in the United States.
The life expectancy for men in Russia is 64 years - placing it among the lowest 50 countries in the world in that category.
It's not clear how many Russian men drink three bottles or more a week. Lead researcher Sir Richard Peto of Oxford University said the average Russian adult drinks 20 liters of vodka per year while the average Briton drinks about three liters of spirits.
"Russians clearly drink a lot, but it's this pattern of getting really smashed on vodka and then continuing to drink that is dangerous," Peto said.
Comment: Further reading
Andrew Bard Schmookler: Moral Endo-skeletons and Exo-skeletons: A Perspective on America's Cultural Divide and Current Crisis
Bob Altemeyer: Amazing Conversions: Why Some Turn to Faith & Others Abandon Religion
Frrancesco Carrota - The Gospel of Caesar
Roger Beck - The Mysteries of Mithras - A new account of their genesis
Gary Courtney - Et tu, Judas? Then Fall Jesus!
Joseph Atwill - Caesar's Messiah: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus