Rethink Your Drink!
The Department of Health in England's Know Your Limits Units
campaign is using the week to raise awareness of the health risks
of drinking above the Chief Medical Officer's (CMO) recommended
lower-risk limits for regular drinking, and to provide
straight-forward help for those who want to cut back. The campaign
is encouraging people to keep a simple drink diary for the week to
learn whether their drinking could be putting them at risk.
Download your Drink Diary to take part!
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Did you know that nearly one in three men and one
in five women drink more than the NHS recommended unit guidelines
for alcohol?
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The Chief Medical
Officer's guidelines on lower risk drinking recommend men do not
drink more than 3-4 units daily (drinking about two pints or two
cans of normal strength beer on a regular basis) and women do not
drink more than 2-3 units daily (regularly drinking about a large
glass of wine and three single measures of spirits)
These are some of the unit strengths of some common
drinks:
|
Drink
|
Units
|
|
Wine -
Standard 175ml glass: 12% |
2.1
|
|
Wine -
large 250 ml glass: 12% |
3 |
|
Wine -
750ml bottle: 13.5 % |
10 |
|
Beer /
Lager - pint: 4% |
2.3 |
|
Beer /
Lager - pint: 5.2% |
3 |
|
Strong
cider - 440ml can : 9% |
4 |
|
Strong
Cider - litre: 9% |
9 |
|
Alcopops -
275ml bottle: 5% |
1.4 |
|
Spirits
(e.g. vodka / gin) - 25ml single: 40% |
1 |
|
Spirits
(e.g.vodka / gin) - 50ml double: 40% |
2 |
Drinking
above the guidelines can increase your risk of heart disease,
breast cancer, liver disease, stroke and other diseases. Drinking
above lower-risk guidelines can also impact on your ability to get
a good night's sleep and affect your general day to day
health.