It appears that Americans are drinking less alcohol, with middle-aged people consuming an estimated one-third less than 50 years ago, shows a study of their drinking patterns over several decades.

Published in the August number of the American Journal of Medicine, the study is based on data collected from more than 8,000 people who took part in the Framingham Heart Study. The participants were interviewed about their habits regarding alcoholic beverage consumption every two to four years between 1948 and 2003.

A team of researchers from Boston University Medical Center found that alcohol intake declines with age. Grown-ups aren't drinking as much alcohol as they used to, and when they reach their 80s, more than 40% of men and 60% of women become nondrinkers, the study’s discloses.

On the whole, while Americans seem to drink less bear as they age, they drink more wine. Another finding of the study suggests that the ingestion of liquor has remained rather steady.

Moreover, each generation drinks less than their parents' generation did. For example, people in adulthood in the 1950s and 1960s drank roughly one-third more than people of the same age in the 1970s.

The study's authors admit they don’t have a scientific explanation why adults consume less alcohol as they get older. According to Dr. R. Curtis Ellison, with the Boston University School of Medicine, "The level of education improved throughout the study, and more-educated people tend to drink less, so this may be one reason." 55-year-old George Scott, an American inhabitant, blames the change on social stigma.