Beer in France Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Beer in France - Essay Example Denmark leads the continent with the highest number of alcohol users at 93% followed by Sweden and Netherlands at 90 and 88% respectively. On the other hand, the alcohol consumers were in Portugal at 58% with Italy and Hungary at 60% and 64% respectively, a trend that has remained intact since 2006 (Conibear, 32). Therefore, as the statistics above indicate, France is a moderate alcohol consumer, making it necessary for any marketers to understand beer or alcohol consumption trends in the country before implementing any marketing strategy. France portrays interesting dynamics with regard to beer and alcohol consumption at large. According to Conibear (34), there has been a drastic culture change in France, Italy and Spain about beer and alcohol consumption since the 1980s. Reports on beer consumption in France indicate an interesting trend with the average number of beer consumers decreasing significantly since the 1990s. For instance, Conibear (35) reports of a decline in the number of alcohol consumers above 15 years since the 1980s. The French beer consumption per capita in 1980 was 20, declining to 15.4 in 1990 and 14 by the year 2000 (Conibear 34). Age too is an influential factor with regard to beer intake across France. While 68% of persons above 50 years preferred wine, 29% of consumers between 14 and 29 years preferred beer, while port had more preference among women consumers (Conibear, 35). France is an average beer producer in Europe compared to other European countries. According to a beer statistics report, France produced 14,731,000 hectoliters of beer in 2009, 16,290,000 hectoliters and 15,910,000 hectoliters of beer in 2010 and 2011 respectively (Brewers of Europe, 4). The above figures indicate an average level production compared to Germany, which had over 95,000,000 hectoliters of beer in the three consecutive years. These data affirm that

Research Paper on Steroids in Sports Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Research Paper on Steroids in Sports - Essay Example Needless to say, there is tremendous ground breaking pressure on athletes and sports representatives to make sure they bring home the gold; otherwise they might have to suffer dire consequences. With all the stakes that are involved, it is only prudent from the athlete’s point of view to make sure that they are the best in their competitive lot by hook or by crook. This is where the abuse of medicine to enhance their performance comes in; with evidently positive intentions, sports are now infiltrated with infamous scandals relating to doping and usage of steroids to enhance performance. The essay primarily discusses a brief history of the usage of steroids in sports, followed by an analysis of the reasons for the increase and the repercussions that athletes face after failing the test. This essay also analyzes if the repercussions are barring the use of steroids or if there is a need of a stricter policy to ensure that steroids are not abused in sports. Steroids: Steroids are similar to certain hormones present in our body and they act like those hormones and sometimes are introduced artificially in our body. The body in itself is able to produce this hormone to fight stress and helps in promoting growth and development. Therefore, they are a very important part of human body. Introduction of these hormones in the human body will help in increasing the development and stamina of athletes. Especially when people are injured, steroids can help in increase the speed of growth and development of the human body. Therefore, they are a complete hit in the sports arena and are allegedly used by athletes to increase man power and stamina to endure the immense physical strain they put their body through. History: One of the first cases of the usage of steroids in sports was reported in 1954. The Soviets, in the World Weightlifting championship, dominated more than anybody and it was revealed that they were given testosterone injections to enhance their sports perf ormance. However, enhancements had been tried before too; citations go back to Greece. It has been observed that athletes have taken extreme measures and followed stringent regimes in order to increase their physical efficiency and fitness nearing a tournament. Although, one might not want to judge the motives behind this action of theirs, it has been observed that more and more corruption came into sports are the financial stakes of the tournaments were increased. The more the prize money was, the more there was a chance for the athletes to experiment with medicine. Therefore, many athletes from as far as Greek times have been known to take extreme measures like eating meat for months before a tournament, in order to increase the presence of testosterone in their body. The story is not very different today; it might actually feel pretty similar to many of us. We are bombarded with dope tests and other kinds of drug tests that are found negative in players from all kinds of sports, from all over the world. The stakes are so high that even after extreme punishments, sportsmen and sportswomen still find the idea of pushing their body to a new level artificially through medicine. Steroids in High School Sports: The use of drugs that enhance physical capabilities is not only restricted to international sports. At the high school level sports, this problem is increasing, or so is quoted by the