In 1956 Ledermann Sully suggested a hypothesis of alcohol use - the pyramidal hypothesis of alcohol use distribution. According to this hypothesis, the increase in social alcohol users in a given society leads to a disproportional increase in percentages of heavy users. In the same way, decrease in the number of social drinkers will have the greatest effect on heavy drinkers. In most western countries, where there are high percentages of heavy drinkers, the pyramid is broad. While in Asian countries where there are fewer heavy drinkers the pyramid is a narrow one. The pattern of alcohol use according to the Ledermann hypothesis among various ethnicities - Slavs, Arabians and Nigerians in Minsk, Belarus were examined.

1345 Slavs, 120 Arabians and 44 Nigerians in Minsk were administered questionnaire containing the AUDIT and other alcohol related questions. On the AUDIT, a score of 1-7 defines social drinkers; 8-19 - heavy drinkers; 20-40 - alcohol dependence.

Social drinkers, alcohol abusers and people with alcohol dependence in the general Belarusian population were Slavs - 74.8%, 13.8%, 2.5% respectively; Arabians - 29.2%, 20.8%, 10.8% respectively; Nigerians - 30.8%, 11.5%, 3.8% respectively. According to the Ledermann hypothesis, this study shows that the pattern of alcohol use by Arabs could be denoted with a narrow pyramid (pattern of alcohol use in most Asian countries) and a broad pyramid (pattern of alcohol use in most western countries) for both Slavs and Nigerians.