Alcohol consumption
The Chief Medical Officers’ guideline for both men and women is that:
- To keep health risks from alcohol to a low level it is safest not to drink more than 14 units a week on a regular basis.
- If you regularly drink as much as 14 units per week, it is best to spread your drinking evenly over 3 or more days. If you have one or two heavy drinking episodes a week, you increase your risks of death from long term illness and from accidents and injuries.
- The risk of developing a range of health problems (including cancers of the mouth, throat and breast) increases the more you drink on a regular basis.
- If you wish to cut down the amount you drink, a good way to help achieve this is to have several drink-free days each week.
- If you are pregnant or think you could become pregnant, the safest approach is not to drink alcohol at all, to keep risks to your baby to a minimum
- Drinking in pregnancy can lead to long-term harm to the baby, with the more you drink the greater the risk.
- The risk of harm to the baby is likely to be low if you have drunk only small amounts of alcohol before you knew you were pregnant or during pregnancy. If you find out you are pregnant after you have drunk alcohol during early pregnancy, you should avoid further drinking. You should be aware that it is unlikely in most cases that your baby has been affected.
- If you are worried about alcohol use during pregnancy do talk to your doctor or midwife.
In general the more you drink above the safe limits; the more harmful alcohol is likely to be. And remember, binge drinking can be harmful even though the weekly total may not seem too high.
What is a unit of alcohol?
One unit of alcohol is 10ml (1cl) by volume, or 8g by weight of pure alcohol. For example:
One unit of alcohol is equal to:
- Half a pint of ordinary strength beer, lager or cider (3-4% alcohol by volume)
- A small pub measure (50ml) of fortified wine such as sherry or port (20% alcohol volume)
There are one and a half units of alcohol in:
- A small glass (125ml) of ordinary strength wine (12% alcohol volume) or
- A standard pub measure (35ml) of spirits (40% alcohol volume)
If you think your alcohol consumption is too high and would like some help please do not hesitate to book an appointment with one of the Doctors at the surgery. They will be able offer advice about alcohol consumption and sign post you to other services that will be able to help you