I was thinking that 1 unit = 1 standard drink but if the study is using the UK definition of units, the 1-14/week range is actually much lower than the average alcohol consumption among the academic/intellectual types I know. To put the 1-14 figure into real world terms, 10 UK units is about equal to a single bottle of 14% ABV wine. And to put that in perspective, on multiple occasions I've witnessed a table of Oxford dons drink the equivalent of 10-20 units over lunch!

Granted, academics and intellectuals in the UK are more likely (in my admittedly anecdotal experience) to be functional alcoholics than elsewhere. But still, if I were trying to estimate the median consumption among the few dozen people I know with advanced degrees, I'd say it'd fall more in the range of 2-3 bottles of wine a week or equivalent amounts of beer, which is well into the "excessive" zone in this study. Unfortunately, I seem to fall into that group as well :(