2 out of 3 Aussie women binge drink

According to a recent article at tvnz, two out of three Australian women surveyed in an online survey were binge drinkers.

Hold on a second, though. What is the definition of a binge drinker? Five units of alcohol - or five drinks.

Now, I'm not an expert here - but if a standard unit of alcohol is the whole one shot = one beer = one glass of wine... then I'm pretty sure that they've set the bar too low.

A Long Island Iced tea, for example, is a drink that can commonly contain two to three shots of alchol. (See: http://www.webtender.com/db/drink/1310 , http://www.webtender.com/db/drink/1436 , http://www.webtender.com/db/drink/1698 for examples). I really don't see someone who has two Long Island Iced Teas over the course of an evening out with friends as a binge drinker.

Of course, If I am misinterpreting what a standard unit of alcohol is, then this may be a bigger problem than it seems. If wikipedia can be trusted, then a 500ml can/bottle of standard lager (5%) generally contains around 2.5 units.

So, if an Australian woman has more than two cans of standard lager in an evening with friends, she's a binge drinker.

Someone has an agenda. I don't think it is me.