MIDDLE- aged mums whose kids have left home are driving Britain’s alcohol epidemic.

Two-fifths admit drinking as much, or more than, their grown-up children and a quarter say they have increased their alcohol intake since they flew the nest.

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Experts are particularly worried about middle-class, educated women, who apparently drink more at home, often by themselves, on a daily basis.

I was that woman until 14 months ago when I was diagnosed with a chronic leukaemia.

The shock forced me to give up the booze immediately.

I succeeded in my abstinent state for seven months, until I woke one morning and realised I’d isolated myself from my friends because I didn’t dare go for a night out in case I was tempted to drink.

That’s when I realised the true meaning of “under the influence,” for alcohol is a major player in our lives.

When we’re young we use it to give us the self confidence to talk to the opposite sex, to be the funniest in the group and to make ourselves feel worthy.

When we’re older it helps relieve boredom and stops us reflecting too much on our humdrum lives now the kids have moved on.

But what women need to realise is that alcohol abuse – and it is abuse when you’re sinking a bottle of wine a night – affects the female body more than the male’s. So is that daily fix worth shortening our lives?

I winged it for a long time.

Drinking was a big part of my profession and I started with a couple of lager and limes at 17, graduating to a bottle of wine a night, sometimes more, in my 30s.

Latterly, I started to worry that it was hurting me. I’d had constant stomach problems which I put down to stress-related IBS. But until I got the diagnosis I put it to the back of my mind and poured myself another.

I like to think I wasn’t an alcoholic, and the fact that I drink once a week now, sometimes not at all, may prove that. But I was a heavy drinker, a binge drinker, like the rest of my female friends.

I’m training as a nutritionist now and I’ve learned how alcohol hammers the liver and strips the body of essential nutrients leaving it vulnerable to invaders. It’s not rocket science.

Moderation maybe boring and restrictive.

But putting your life on hold because it’s controlled by an illness is far, far worse.