New Alcohol Guidelines Aim to Cut Heath Risks

Pregnant women should not drink at all.

NEW alcohol guidelines state men and women should drink no more than 14 units of alcohol a week – the equivalent of seven pints of larger or seven glasses of wine.

The tough and latest alcohol guidelines have cut recommended drinking limits, saying that “there is no such thing as a safe level of drinking”.

That has now been swept away, and pregnant women are being told to abstain from drinking altogether as a precautionary measure. 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.

In order to follow the government’s advice – the first for twenty years – adults would have to have several “drink free” days a week and not consume more than fourteen units in one drinking session.

The advantages of alcohol to maintain heart health only seemed to apply for women above the age of 55, the benefits were effectively seen when the alcohol consumption was limited to around five units per week.

Prof Frank Murray, chairman of Alcohol Health Alliance Ireland, welcomed the updated United Kingdom guidelines, which take account of new research on the health risks of alcohol consumption. This is down from 21 units in the previous guidelines.

But she said people remained at “low risk” if they drank up to 14 units per week across three or four days.

The UK’s chief medical officers are now advising that no level of regular drinking is without risks to health.

There are three elements to the new Guidelines: a weekly guideline for regular drinking; advice on single episodes of drinking; and a guideline on pregnancy and drinking.

The committee has been collecting and analyzing studies on cancer and alcohol consumption since 2013, which they report show some cancers are more common among people who drink more. The British report said it “concluded that there is no justification for drinking for health reasons”.

The charity Alcohol Concern says that more than nine million people in England drink more than the recommended daily limit out of a population of around 54 million. Pregnant women should not drink at all.

A group at the frontline of alcohol abuse in Kirklees has declared new lower drinking guidelines as “daft”.

The risk of developing some alcohol-related cancers reduces over time when people stop drinking, but it can take many years to return to the levels found in people who have never drunk alcohol. But the federal agency also mentioned that even that moderate level increases risks for certain cancers, violence, accidents and injuries.