Alcohol consumption factsheet
Almost seven in ten adults admit to drinking more than the daily
recommended guidelines on at least one day in the past week. In the past
60 years, the average intake of alcohol per person in the UK has risen
steadily from five litres in the 1950s to more than 11 litres in 2007. 19
While many people enjoy alcohol in moderation, increasing numbers are
drinking in a way that is causing our region a wide range of problems. In
the North East, 48% of men and 29% of women reported drinking above
the daily recommended limits and just under a fifth drink to get drunk on a
weekly basis.1
An important part of reducing the problems is helping people understand
their limits. This factsheet looks at how much is too much.
It’s important to stress that no amount of alcohol is completely safe. The
NHS advice on drinking limits refers to levels that still include a low risk of
developing future health problems. Drinking above these levels on a daily
or almost daily basis is associated with an increasing risk of diseases and
health conditions, and these risks increase the more you drink.
Lower risk drinking
These levels are the recommended limits per day and you should not
drink at or above these limits on a daily or almost daily basis.
•No more than three to four units for men.
•No more than two to three units for women.
•
Lower risk drinking means that in most circumstances you have a low risk
of causing yourself future harm.
Increasing risk drinking
Drinking at this level on a daily or almost daily basis increases the risk of
damaging your health:
•More than three to four units a day for men.
•More than two to three units a day for women.
Higher risk drinking
If you're drinking at this level, on a daily or almost daily basis, you're at a
much higher risk and your body is probably already being damaged, even
if you're not aware of it yet:
•More than eight units a day, or more than 50 units a week, for men
•More than six units a day, or more than 35 units a week, for women.
About limits
The limits are given as ranges ('two to three' and 'three to four') because
the same amount of alcohol can affect different people in different ways,
depending on your sex, weight, height and many other factors. This
means there is no exact threshold where your drinking moves from low to
higher risk.
The limits are lower for women because women and men process and
tolerate alcohol differently. For example, women's bodies have a higher
ratio of fat to water, so they generally can't process alcohol as easily.
The NHS uses daily figures for regular consumption because it's
important to realise that regular daily amounts quickly add up. The NHS
wishes to discourage the belief that you could drink ‘your weekly limit' all
at once - because binge drinking is harder on your body and may put you
and others at risk. The daily limits aren't to say you should never drink
more than these amounts in a single day, for example on special
occasions. However, regularly drinking at this level can cause serious
harm.
Alcohol consumption factsheet
About units
We describe the pure alcohol content of a drink in units. One UK unit is
10ml (8g) of pure alcohol.
The strength of any drink is described as the proportion of the drink's
volume that is pure alcohol, using ‘alcohol by volume' or ABV. One unit is
the amount of pure alcohol in a 25ml single measure of spirits (ABV 40%),
a third of a pint of beer (ABV 5 to 6%) or half a 175ml ‘standard' glass of
red wine (ABV 12%).
You can work out how many units there are in any drink by multiplying the
total volume of the drink (ml) by its strength (ABV %) and dividing the
result by 1,000. You'll need to know a drink's exact ABV, because
different brands of the same volume may be stronger or weaker. You can
find this information on the labels of cans and bottles, or you can ask bar
staff. That way you can keep count and know your units when you're out
drinking.
Tracking how much you drink is key to reducing consumption. It is fairly
common to underestimate how much we consume. Keeping a drinks
diary and using a drinks calculator are perfect ways to take stock and
make initial steps towards living a healthier life.
The following units table provides an idea of different strengths of drink.