Super binge drinkers guzzle 3090 drinks a year Ten years ago binge drinkers were drinking 3000 standard drinks a year now they are drinking an extra 90 standard drinks a year. AUSTRALIA'S binge drinkers have graduated into super binge drinkers consuming more than 3090 standard drinks a year. This equates to 38 litres of alcohol a year - nearly four times the Australian average of 10 litres of alcohol a year. Ten years ago binge drinkers were drinking 3000 standard drinks a year now they are drinking an extra 90 standard drinks a year - and half the alcohol consumed in Australia is drunk by the top 10 per cent of drinkers. This explains why even though nationally the average amount of alcohol consumed has declined there are more hospitalisations, alcohol ED presentations and cirrhosis of the liver cases. While most of us have been cutting back what we drink, the heavy drinkers have been making up for this by increasing what they drink. The study by National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at University NSW found the top five per cent of drinkers are drinking an extra 140 drinks a year compared with a decade ago. And the top 10 per cent of drinkers account for 52 per cent of all the alcohol consumed in Australia, up from 49 per cent a decade ago. Researcher Dr Michael Livingston said the study solved the mystery of why there had been a sharp increase in alcohol related hospitalisations and emergency department presentations while national alcohol consumption appeared to be falling. Overall consumption has dropped but harms have increased. This new evidence about the divergence in habits between heavy and light drinkers goes some way to explaining the apparent contradictions," Dr Livingston says. "An effective policy response to these changes in drinking habits may be to target certain interventions such as brief interventions in health settings to the heaviest drinkers as a way to supplement broader responses such as increased taxation and reduced alcohol availability," he said. Other new research to be released at a symposium into drug and alcohol research in Sydney Wednesday shows contacting people admitted to hospital emergency departments about their alcohol use can prompt a temporary decline in their drinking habits. Patients who presented to the emergency department of five NSW hospitals were screened to identify if they had an alcohol disorder. Half of the 304 who were found to have an alcohol problem were sent a letter a week later comparing their drinking habits to the average drinking habits in their local community. Those who had been drinking before they attended the hospital cut by 12.2 the number of drinks they consumed each week after receiving the letter. "They cut their drinking in half when we contacted them six weeks later," said researcher Alys Havard. However, the effect was short lived and most had returned to their old drinking habits within six months. While the study involved sending just one letter other work showed if there was more regular follow up "you could extend the effect" she said. The research comes as a Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education survey found more than nine in 10 Australians are concerned about alcohol related violence. The national survey of 1114 Australians carried out in June 2013 by AMR National Omnibus found only 17 per cent of Australians thought the government was doing enough to prevent alcohol related harm and 50 per cent thought it should be a priority in the election campaign.