MOSCOW – With centuries of vodka drinking behind them, Russians have little respect for the paltry alcoholic content of beer. Russian men frequently laugh off the intoxicating effects of beer with an old proverb: “Beer without vodka is like throwing money into the wind.”

But with beer consumption skyrocketing, especially among the young, there is growing concern over Russia’s newfound love of ale and lager. Health experts warn that with 22,000 children already registered as alcoholics and drug addicts, an entire generation of Russians is at risk. After passing a sweeping ban on beer advertising in August, lawmakers will this month consider a bill banning public beer consumption and sales from street kiosks.

“Our society is under threat from such high levels of alcohol consumption and abuse,” said the deputy head of the health committee of the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of Parliament, Nikolai Gerasimenko. “You always see teenagers drinking beer and we have to deal with this. School kids start on beer and before long are progressing to vodka.”

Most Russians consider beer little more than a soft drink, suitable for drinking at any time of the day, including on the way to work in the morning. Beer can be bought on any street corner and crowds of teenagers regularly gather in city parks to down a few bottles after school.

In the last five years, beer consumption has doubled in Russia, making it the fastest-growing beer market in the world after China. Sales have risen by 14% this year alone. From next to none 10 years ago, there are now more than 100 locally produced brands of beer.

Russia’s brewers argue that increased beer sales represent a positive shift in Russians’ drinking habits.

“It’s much better to drink beer in moderation than vodka,” said the head of the Russian Brewers’ Union, Vyacheslav Mamontov. “If you take all the alcohol consumed in Russia every year, 70% is vodka and 20% is beer. In Europe, spirits, wine, and beer each make up about a third of consumption. Obviously it’s better for the health of the nation if we try to recreate this model.”

Many health experts, however, worry that instead of replacing vodka, beer is only supplementing it. If drinking habits were changing, they say, vodka sales would be dropping as beer sales rose. Instead, hard liquor sales rose by more than 4% last year, according to the state statistics committee.

“What we are seeing is overall growth in the amount of alcohol being consumed, not more beer at the expense of vodka,” said Vladimir Nuzhny of the Health Ministry’s National Research Center on Addictions. “Alcoholism is a very serious problem in Russia and, frighteningly, experts are registering more and more cases of teenage alcoholism, not from drinking vodka but from beer.”

With one in seven Russians believed to be an alcoholic, heavy drinking is wreaking havoc on the country’s health. About 40,000 Russians die every year from extreme intoxication and 40% of the country’s 300,000 annual accident deaths are directly linked to alcohol. Health experts say alcohol abuse is largely to blame for a fall in life expectancy to less than 59 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Russia restricted advertising on hard liquor and banned its public consumption in 1995, but at the time imposed no similar restrictions on beer. The new rules prohibit beer commercials on television between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. and ban billboards near hospitals, schools, and sports centers. Starting in January, they will also forbid the use of people, animals, or cartoon characters in beer ads. The rules currently being considered would require licenses for selling beer and make it illegal to drink beer “on the street, in stadiums, squares, parks, on public transport, and other public places.”

Brewers furiously opposed the advertising restrictions, pointing out they are stronger than those imposed in many Western countries. TV networks stand to lose 10% of their advertising revenue because of the restrictions and sports teams say the ban on beer ads, their biggest source of sponsorship, could make it impossible for some clubs to survive. Russia’s hockey and soccer federations have written to the Duma asking for the rules to be rescinded.

And while brewers here acknowledge that public beer drinking is banned in many Western countries, they say Russia, where the average restaurant bill comes to 4% of the average monthly wage, is a special case.

“Thirty percent of all beer is bought for immediate consumption by people who cannot afford to drink beer in cafes or bars, where it costs twice as much,” Mr. Mamontov said.

Brewers say they are being targeted by lawmakers under the influence of the country’s powerful, and largely state-controlled, vodka industry.

“No one can prove that if you start drinking beer you will progress onto vodka. In fact, the vodka producers are worried about the very opposite, that those who have started drinking beer will never move on to vodka,” Mr. Mamontov said.

Even if the ban on public consumption is approved, few expect the government will ever be able to enforce it.

“I can’t say that I expect to see real results from this, largely due to laziness of our police force and the fact that one can always bribe one’s way out of such situations,” Mr. Gerasimenko said.

As he enjoyed a morning beer outside Moscow’s Kievsky train station, Alexei Dolbilin, 22, hardly seemed concerned.

“Nothing will come of this law,” he said, adding that he didn’t think growing beer consumption was anything to worry about.

“Beer is better for you than Western fizzy drinks with chemicals in them, it’s a natural product.”