Alcohol units and low-risk drinking guidelines
The UK Chief Medical Officers’ Low-Risk Drinking Guidelines were created to help people understand how alcohol affects health over time, and what “low risk” really means. They’re based on the best available evidence about the link between alcohol and conditions like liver disease, heart problems, and cancer.
In this guide, we’ll take you through the guidance step by step - what it says, why it exists, and how you can use it to make choices that work for you.
Weekly drinking guidelines
The weekly drinking guidelines apply to adults who drink regularly or frequently (i.e. most weeks). The Chief Medical Officers’ guideline for both men and women is that:
- To keep health risks from alcohol to a low level, it is safest not to drink more than 14 units a week on a regular basis.
- If you regularly drink as much as 14 units per week, it is best to spread your drinking evenly over 3 or more days. If you have one or two heavy drinking episodes a week, you increase your risks of death from long-term illness and from accidents and injuries.
- The risk of developing a range of health problems (including cancers of the mouth, throat and breast) increases the more you drink on a regular basis.
- If you wish to cut down the amount you drink, a good way to help achieve this is to have several drink-free days each week.
What's a unit?
A unit is a simple way to measure alcohol. It tells you how much pure alcohol is in your drink.
Here’s a quick reference guide:
- 1 small shot of spirits (like gin or vodka) = 1 unit
- Alcopop = 1.3 units
- Bottle of lager/beer/cider = 1.7 units
- Standard glass of wine = 2.1 units
- Bottle of wine = 10 units
The stronger or bigger the drink, the more units it has.
Single occasion drinking episodes
This applies to drinking on any single occasion (not regular drinking, which is covered by the weekly guideline).
The Chief Medical Officers’ advice for men and women who wish to keep their short-term health risks from single occasion drinking episodes to a low level is to reduce them by:
- limiting the total amount of alcohol you drink on any single occasion
- drinking more slowly, drinking with food, and alternating with water
- planning ahead to avoid problems, e.g. by making sure you can get home safely or that you have people you trust with you.
The sorts of things that are more likely to happen if you do not understand and judge
correctly the risks of drinking too much on a single occasion can include:
- accidents resulting in injury, causing death in some cases
- misjudging risky situations, and
- losing self-control (e.g. engaging in unprotected sex).
Some groups of people are more likely to be affected by alcohol and should be more
careful of their level of drinking on any one occasion, for example, those at risk of
falls, those on medication that may interact with alcohol or where it may exacerbate
pre-existing physical and mental health problems.
If you are a regular weekly drinker and you wish to keep both your short- and long-term health risks from drinking low, this single episode drinking advice is also
relevant for you.
Pregnancy and drinking
The Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines is that:
- If you are pregnant or think you could become pregnant, the safest approach is not to drink alcohol at all, to keep risks to your baby to a minimum.
- Drinking in pregnancy can lead to long-term harm to the baby, with the more you drink the greater the risk.
The risk of harm to the baby is likely to be low if you have drunk only small amounts
of alcohol before you knew you were pregnant or during pregnancy.
If you find out you are pregnant after you have drunk alcohol during early pregnancy,
you should avoid further drinking. You should be aware that it is unlikely in most cases that your baby has been affected. If you are worried about alcohol use during pregnancy do talk to your doctor or midwife.
Guidance on drinking for under-18s
Children and their parents and carers are advised that an alcohol-free childhood is the healthiest and best option. However, if children drink alcohol, it should not be until at least the age of 15.
If young people aged 15-17 years consume alcohol, it should always be with the guidance of a parent or carer or in a supervised environment.
Parents and young people should be aware that drinking, even at age 15 or older, can be hazardous to health and that not drinking is the healthiest option for young people.
If 15 to 17 year olds do consume alcohol, they should do so infrequently and certainly on no more than one day a week.
Young people aged 15 to 17 years should never exceed recommended adult daily limits and, on days when they drink, consumption should usually be below such levels.
This advice is based on strong evidence about how alcohol affects young people’s health, safety, and development.
Why spread drinks across the week?
Drinking a lot in one go (sometimes called ‘binge drinking’) can be extremely dangerous, putting you at greater risk of accidents, alcohol poisoning and other short and long-term health issues.
The low risk drinking guidelines recommend it’s safest to drink no more than 14 units a week, spread over three or more days to:
- Give your body time to recover, rest, and repair
- Reduce the risk of accidents and harm
- Help you stay in control
- Support your mental health
- Stay within low-risk limits
The importance of alcohol-free days
The guidelines also recommend having a few alcohol-free days each week - even if you stay within the guidelines. These breaks give your body and mind a chance to rest and recover.
If you're considering cutting down on your alcohol consumption, adding alcohol-free days is one of the easiest ways to reduce how much you drink without making big changes. The good news is that drink-free days bring lots of health benefits, from better sleep to improved mood and mental health.
You can start small with one or two alcohol-free days each week, and build from there.
