Alcohol drinking limits cut on health grounds

Previous guidelines from 1995 said men should not drink more than 21 units of alcohol a week, with women limited to 14 units.

But new guidelines say men and women should drink no more than 14 units a week, equivalent to six pints of beer or seven glasses of wine, while pregnant women should avoid alcohol completely.

The guidelines are influenced by new evidence that drinking alcohol can cause various cancers, as well as liver disease.

‘Health risk’

England’s Chief Medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies, said: “Drinking any level of alcohol regularly carries a health risk for anyone, but if men and women limit their intake to no more than 14 units a week it keeps the risk of illness like cancer and liver disease low.

“I want pregnant women to be very clear that they should avoid alcohol as a precaution. Although the risk of harm to the baby is low if they have drunk small amounts of alcohol before becoming aware of the pregnancy, there is no ‘safe’ level of alcohol to drink when you are pregnant.”

The advice says drinkers should have several alcohol-free days every week, but should not “save up” their maximum 14 units for a binge.

It also says evidence that alcohol, such as red wine, is good for health “is considered less strong than it was”, with only women over 55 benefiting from the protective effect of drinking on the heart.

Cancer

A report that has influenced the guidelines says the risk of getting cancer “starts from any level of regular drinking and rises with the amount being drunk” and that low-level drinking is linked to cancers of the lip, oral cavity, pharynx, oesophagus and breast, while high-level drinking is associated with increased risk of bowel and liver cancer.

The chief medical officers have reached the conclusion that 14 units should be the limit because above this level, drinking results in a 1 per cent risk of dying from an alcohol-related illness.

Taking risks

Sir David Spiegelhalter, professor of the public understanding of risk at the University of Cambridge, said: "These guidelines define 'low-risk' drinking as giving you less than a 1 per cent chance of dying from an alcohol-related condition.

"So should we feel okay about risks of this level? An hour of TV watching a day, or a bacon sandwich a couple of times a week, is more dangerous to your long-term health.

"In contrast, an average driver faces much less than this lifetime risk from a car accident. It all seems to come down to what pleasure you get from moderate drinking."

The Department of Health says drinking 28 units a week, double the recommended maximum, carries a 5 per cent risk of dying from an alcohol-related disease if you are a man, and 8 per cent if you are a woman.

The new advice was welcomed by health charities, while Matt Field, professor of addiction at the University of Liverpool, said that “one of the most important changes is that there is no ‘safe’ level of alcohol consumption: any amount of drinking is associated with increased risk of a number of diseases”.

Dr John Holmes, senior research fellow from the Sheffield Alcohol Research Group, said there were “only very minor differences in alcohol-related health risk between the sexes at this level of consumption (ie up to 14 units per week)”, but that women were at greater risk than men if they exceeded this limit.

‘Surprising’

A statement from the Portman Group, which represents the drinks industry, said: “What is surprising is that the UK is breaking with established international precedent by recommending the same guidelines for men and women.

“It also means that UK men are being advised to drink significantly less than their European counterparts.”