For many, summer is synonymous with booze. Whether sipped during balmy evenings socialising, at weddings, on holiday or trying to survive heatwave stress, even the most sensible of drinkers might have found themselves surpassing the 14 units a week limit this season.
The figure was introduced in 2016 after a major review of the evidence on alcohol and health found drinking within the guidelines would constitute a one per cent lifetime risk of dying from alcohol across the population.
In other words, drink less than 14 units a week, and the research suggests you’re at low risk of alcohol harm. Of course, that doesn’t mean no risk – any alcohol is bad for our health – and there’s no definitive tipping point at which drinking becomes exponentially harmful.
Shorts
However, according to health surveys, one in five (21 per cent) of people in England drink more than the recommended units – and we all know how honest most people are about their alcohol intake. Men are twice as likely to go over the 14-unit guideline as women.
