New guidelines have been issued on alcohol, cutting the recommended drinking limits and saying there is no safe level for drinking.
Chief medical officers in the UK say that new studies have shown any amount of alcohol can increase cancer risk.
The latest advice says women and men who regularly drink should not consume more than 14 units a week. This equates to seven glasses of wine or six pints of beer. Pregnant women should not consume any alcohol at all.
The guidelines also say that if people do drink, they should have some alcohol-free days and drinking should be done in moderation over three or more days, rather than ‘saving up’ their units and drinking them all in one or two days. The new advice says that heavy drinking sessions increase risk of injuries and accidents.
The guidance mark the first full alcohol guidelines review since 1995, however updated advice on drinking for young people and pregnant women was published in 2007 and again in 2009.
It also marks a slight shift from past guidance for people in Wales, England and Northern Ireland, which suggested that whilst pregnant women shouldn’t drink, if they did then they should not get drunk and only consume one or two units per week. The advice for drinking in pregnancy is unambiguous. Previously in England, Wales and Northern Ireland women had been told not to drink at all, but to limit it if they chose to.
Previous guidance from the government set out daily limits of three to four units for men and two to three units for women. The new advice has moved to weekly limits to remove the notion that drinking every day isn’t harmful.
The 14 units limit now represents a decrease in drinking levels for both women and men, however doctors’ groups have advised since 1995 that men should limit themselves to 21 units. In effect, the government advice has caught up with the medical guidance but gone slightly further.
This limit has been chosen because that amount of drinking leads to a 1% risk of death from alcohol-related causes. It has been deemed an acceptable level or risk at it’s the same risk a
Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer in England, said that regularly drinking any level of alcohol carries a risk, but if people limit their unit to 14 units each week it will keep the risk of illnesses such as liver disease and cancer low.
She also said the aim of the guidelines was to provide the public with the most current scientific information to allow them to make informed decisions about their alcohol consumption.
Chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance, Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, said the new advice is necessary as people have a right to know what risks are associated with alcohol consumption.
It is made clear in the guidance that people should be teetotal on some days and heavy drinking sessions should not be indulged in. This wasn’t categorically set out in the 1995 guidance, which suggested that men should limit themselves to three to four units a day and women to two to three units, taking a two-day break after a heavy session of drinking.
One of the main differences between this guidance and that of 1995 is that the new advice doesn’t differentiate between women and men. It makes it clear that drinking every day should not happen and there are no safe levels for drinking with the exception that women aged over 55 can benefit their heart health if they drink a small amount of up to five units per week.
Some research has suggested that low-level drinking could protect men from cardiovascular disease but the new advice says this no longer applies. It’s likely that this is due to an over-estimation of the benefits of alcohol and also the fact that society has improved in terms of preventing heart disease.
Another major factor in the new advice is that evidence has been found that regular alcohol consumption can increase the risk of several types of cancer, including breast, mouth and throat cancer. According to the guidance, the links to cancer were not understood properly in 1995.