Alcohol guidelines and know your units

Guidelines

• Men and women are advised not to drink more than 14 units a week on a regular basis
• Spread your drinking over three or more days if you regularly drink as much as 14 units a week
• If you want to cut down, try to have several drink-free days each week

If you’re 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.  The NHS has more information and advice for mothers-to-be who have questions about alcohol during pregnancy

Know your units

Men and women are advised not to drink more than 14 units of alcohol a week. So what is 14 units?  This is the same as 6 pints of average strength beer a week or 4 large glasses of wine. Regularly drinking more than this can increase the risk to your health.

A drink or two most evenings can have a serious effect on your body. This can include making you gain weight to increasing your risk of cancer.

It is easy to get confused about how many units are in your drink. There are so many different drinks and glass sizes, from shots to pints – not to mention bottles.  There is information from the  NHS on alcohol and units  which helps explain this further.