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The UK Chief Medical Officers’ Low Risk Drinking Guidelines
The key points to remember:
14 units a week There is no safe amount of alcohol, but 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. 14 units meansroughlysix pints of lagerorone and a half bottles of wine.
Don’t ‘save up’ your units Spread them out over three 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.
Make sure you have a least two days off. Pregnant or planning a pregnancy?
The safest approach is not to drink alcohol at all, to keep risks to your baby to a minimum.
What does 14 units look like?
Fourteen units is roughly
equivalent to 6 pints of 4% beer or 6 glasses (175ml) of 13% wine.
The above graphic shows how 14 units could be consumed over a week.
Why should I spread my units out over the week?
Your body can only process one unit of alcohol per hour. Drinking anything over 6 units in a single session for women, or 8 units in a single session for men, is classed as a ‘binge’.