Children aged 12 hitting the bottle

CHILDREN as young as 12 are drinking the equivalent of 19 glasses of wine a week, a report has found.

A study by the Schools Health Education Unit found that 4 per cent of the 12 to 13-year-olds surveyed drank 28 or more units of alcohol in the last week.

This exceeds the government’s daily unit guidelines for men (three to four units) and women (two to three units).

Three units equates to two small (125ml) glasses of average strength wine (12 per cent) or a pint of strong lager (5 per cent) or cider, according to the charity Drinkaware. The report, based on data collected from more than 83,000 pupils across the UK, revealed that 11 per cent of 14 to 15-year-olds had drunk more than ten units of alcohol in the last week.

Simon Antrobus, chief executive of the charity Addaction, said: “These new figures back up our own experiences.

“At Addaction, we know children who drink at younger ages are the ones who need help most. We also know that children whose parents misuse alcohol are more likely to develop their own problems later in life.

“It is essential that these children, and their families, have access to specialist support at the earliest possible opportunity.”

Beer, larger and cider are popular choices with boys, while girls are opting for wine and spirits.

Almost a third of the 14 to 15-year-old boys questioned had drunk at least a pint of beer or lager in the last seven days, while one in five had had one or more pints of cider.

Of the 14 to 15-year-old girls questioned, one in five had drunk at least one measure of spirits in the last week, while 16 per cent had had one or more glasses of wine.

Around a quarter of all the teenagers admitted they had got drunk at least once in the last seven days, with about 15 per cent getting drunk more than twice in the week. Most are drinking at home or the house of a friend or relation, with only a small number buying alcohol from a supermarket, nightclub or off-licence.