New guidelines on drinking published in the UK

The UK Chief Medical Officers have issued revised UK guidelines for alcohol consumption today.

The new guidelines follow a detailed review of previous advice published in 1995 and are informed by the latest scientific evidence. Work on the review has been led by a panel of experts in public health and behavioural science.

The new guidelines include:

• a single guideline for men and women: This will now be 14 units a week for both men and women
• a recommendation not to ‘save up’ 14 units for one or two days – but instead to spread them over three or more days
• that the ‘protective effect’ is less significant than  previously thought – i.e. one or two glasses of red wine does not prevent you from getting heart disease, as is often reported
• there is no ‘safe’ level amount of alcohol to drink during pregnancy; and
• advice on single episodes of drinking.

The review found new evidence on the risks of cancer, even from low levels of drinking, and that the benefits of alcohol for heart health are less significant than previously thought.

These two reasons have prompted the UK Chief Medical Officers to set the guideline on the number of units of alcohol that men and women are advised not to exceed each week to 14.

Dr Ruth Hussey, Chief Medical Officer for Wales, said:

“The UK Chief Medical Officers have taken recommendations from alcohol experts to update the advice.

“The previous advice is now twenty years old and these new guidelines draw on the latest evidence on how different levels of drinking affect health risks for individuals. The new guidelines are there for people to make informed decisions about their drinking, to make it as easy as possible to make healthy choices and to keep the risk of cancer and liver disease low.

“We have launched a consultation on the wording of the guidelines, and whether there should be a guideline based on a number of units for single episodes of drinking. I want to encourage individuals, communities and stakeholder groups to take the opportunity to provide their views.”