Millions of middle-class women drinking more than they realise because of larger wine glasses

The surge has been revealed after the Government was forced to revise consumption calculations because of the trend towards larger wine glasses.

It means up to a third of women are drinking beyond safe limits every week - much higher than previous estimates.

The shock statistics also reveal the more you earn, the more you drink - with those in higher income groups consuming 30 per cent more alcohol than the working classes.

Scroll down for more...

Overall, the report by the Office for National Statistics shows that millions of drinkers - men and women - who thought they were sticking within safe limits are exceeding them and leaving themselves at higher risk of liver disease and certain types of cancer.

It confirms the warning by Public Health Minister Dawn Primarolo last year when she said the most serious drinking problem was from middleclass, middle-aged people.

She told MPs: "That is where the serious and dramatic harm is increasing."

The ONS found that those in managerial and professional jobs drink 15.1 units a week, against 11.6 for those in routine and manual occupations.

Those in the very highest income brackets have even more.

Under the old calculation system, a glass of wine was one unit. Now it counts as two units and the change means professionals are drinking up to 50 per cent more than the old figures showed.

Scroll down for more...

Female bosses of small businesses are drinking 10.1 units a week - up from the previous 5.5 units estimate.

Sarah Jarvis, a GP in London, said: "This is not scaremongering - this is a disaster.

"Older people think that because they are not going out vomiting in the street they are not binge drinkers but it is simply not true.

"I see thirty-somethings and forty-somethings with real health problems.

"A lot of them are holding down full-time jobs and don't think they have a problem.

"These people share a bottle of wine with their partner every night as well as having gin and tonics before supper."

The new calculations reveal the average woman drinks 9.0 units a week, compared to 6.2 units under the old method.

Men are drinking 18.7 units a week, compared to 14.8 as previously thought.

Overall, people are drinking a third more than they thought, and the gap between men and women is reducing.

And far more people are exceeding guideline amounts of two to three units a day for women and three to four for men.

The proportion of women drinking too much has leapt from a fifth to a third under the new calculations, while 40 per cent of men drink more than the guidelines.

The ONS report, which is based its 2006 General Household Survey of 16,500 homes, also overturned a national myth, showing that English people drink more than those in Scotland - 13.7 units compared to

One in five men and one in ten women questioned said they had drunk on five days in the previous week.

If the old calculations had been applied to the figures, alcohol consumption appears to be falling.

But Eileen Goddard, of the ONS, said figures suggesting a drop had to be treated with caution.

She added: "It may be that people are even more unwilling than they have been in the past to tell us how much they drink so we have got more of an underreporting problem."

Actual consumption may be higher than the report suggests because of under-reporting by those questioned, fewer young people taking part in the ONS study, and previous underestimations of alcohol in wine, she said.

Conservative health spokesman Mike Penning said: "This Government, with its 24-hour drinking legislation, is sending out all the wrong messages on alcohol consumption."

• Off-licences and supermarkets could have to print their names on cans and bottles of alcohol under proposed laws to combat binge drinking.

The radical plan would expose which shops are selling drink to under-age youngsters when they are caught by police.

A Whitehall source said: "There are still too many shops selling booze to kids and this will help police target the worst offenders.

"But there are also adults who go in and buy drink for kids. These plans will let supermarkets and shops know if this is happening."

Stores such as Sainsbury, Tesco, Asda and Morrisons would also be banned from offering huge discounts which mean cans of lager can cost as little as 20p each.

The proposals are part of a Government review of 24-hour licensing to be published next month.

Gordon Brown is expected to stop short of scrapping round-theclock drinking, but will recommend measures targeting the sale of cheap alcohol.