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GUIDELINES FOR ALCOHOL intake for men have been slashed by a third in new advice issued by Britain’s chief medical officers today.
Men are now being told they should drink only 14 units of alcohol per week, the same as for women and down from the previous level of 21 units.
One unit is roughly equivalent to a small glass of wine or a small shot of spirits.
The advice, the first update of its kind for 20 years, also says people should take several days off drinking every week.
It warns that regularly drinking any amount of alcohol increases the risk of developing cancer.
Pregnant women are now being told they should avoid drinking alcohol completely. Previously, they were advised to limit themselves to only drink one or two units once or twice a week.
“What we are aiming to do with these guidelines is give the public the latest and most up to date scientific information so that they can make informed decisions about their own drinking and the level of risk they are prepared to take,” said Sally Davies, the chief medical officer for England.
Officials say the full extent of the correlation between alcohol and cancer was not properly understood when the previous public health guidelines were issued in 1995.
Britain has a higher than average level of alcohol consumption, according to figures from the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) group of rich nations.
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.
It adds there were nearly 6,500 alcohol-related deaths in England in 2012.
There is fierce debate in Britain over whether to bring in a minimum price for alcohol, in a bid to get rid of the cheapest drinks and discourage alcohol abuse.
Only the devolved government in Scotland has so far introduced legislation to impose this.
- © AFP 2016.
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It takes a full week for English bar staff to pull six pints anyways.
There’s a mad dash now by the Irish medical officers to get ‘guidance’ prepared ASAP, so as not to be out done by the brits. It reads exactly the same but one unit of alcohol less, because you know, it was the findings of the irish medical office and not just a photocopy of the british medical office report. wink
Mcgoo… Couldn’t say it any better… The amount of times you would be in an English bar waiting on service and see the staff just hanging around behind the bar chatting to one another ignoring customers instead of working is incredible… If they worked in an Irish bar the wouldn’t last a single night….
Good job we’re Irish then..
Over 50,000 people die in Ireland every year due to alcohol related illnesses. It’s a serious public health issue.
It’s actually much closer to 1,000, Margaret, and not 50,000. 50,000 is actually higher than the total number of deaths in Ireland.
4,288 deaths every month in Ireland directly attributable to alcohol
http://alcoholireland.ie/facts/alcohol-related-harm-facts-and-statistics/
Jesus Brian, don’t feed the troll… Besides it sounds like he’s well past the six pint limit….
That report says 88 deaths every month. 88×12=1056. I rest my case.
Don’t feed the troll Brian…
Brian are you looking at it on your phone? It might be cutting off some of the number.
No, Margaret. That’s not how the Internet works. Anyway, the report states both on mobile and desktop that it’s 88. On top of that, the journal reported a figure of 800 for a few years ago – http://jrnl.ie/175243. The RCPI also reports 88 deaths per month. Maybe you should pop over to Specsavers.
Anyway, how do you explain the discrepancy in there being more deaths related to alcohol than the total number of deaths in the country?
Haha!! First, what has your age got to do with anything? Second, if you think you’re entitled to post lies on the Internet, then you should be prepared to be called out on it. Third, I didn’t abuse you. I questioned your ability to see, seeing as all reports point to the figure of 88. For an “elderly woman”, you need to grow up and develop a thick skin!
Don’t mind her Brian. Just another troll account. They appear every now and again.
Oh, I know that JJ. Unfortunately I’m quite sick at the moment and can’t enjoy a pint. So, I’m getting my kicks in other ways. Playing with trolls is one of them! ;)
They bite if you annoy them.
Not too well if they have dentures. Let’s find out ;)
It’s probably best you’re not drinking, misogynistic enough as it is.
Well, it’s clear you don’t know the meaning of the word misogynistic either. I would suggest looking it up in a dictionary, but you probably still didn’t get to Specsavers. I’d also suggest looking it up online, but apparently your computer tacks on random bits of information…
No wonder you’re sick if you’re this easily stressed. You still haven’t answered my original point.
Oh, I’m not stressed at all. I’m actually having a good laugh. I did answer your point. You either couldn’t read it because of your eyesight, or were too busy trying to find a way to play the poor, put-upon victim using words that are beyond your comprehension. Put on your glasses, stop lying, and pay attention.
Why do you hate women?
I don’t hate women. I hate liars. Why do you hate men? Why do you hate facts? Why, oh why, do you hate puppies?
Margaret your talking hotel Sierra
Never met a sober man before who couldn’t even read numbers correctly from a screen. Everyone can see the link and that you’re lying.
Margaret, it clearly states in that report that 88 deaths per month are alcohol related.
So now Brian is using multiple accounts to try to cover his tracks. Pathetic. The figures are right there in the link. Do you work for the alcohol industry?
Yes they can, Margaret. Now, let’s say that, hypothetically, it is an issue with my phone, and that somehow my desktop is connecting to my phone and reading its content, rather than its own, and that’s how the figure of 88 is being show. How come, then, the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland have the same figure of 88. Either your figure is right, in which case we should no longer trust our physicians, surgeons, politicians (debatable anyway) and statisticians, or you simply can’t read. How come you still can’t answer the point about your figure being higher than Ireland’s total death rate?
Brilliant! I’ve always wanted to be one of those people accused of multiple accounts. This is a first. Gave me another good giggle too. I honestly should be paying you, Margaret, for this entertainment. Oh, by the way, whose image did you steal for your profile picture? Do they know you’re stealing their identity?
I’m not reading all that, can you summarise?
I didn’t read the article went straight to the comments. Always entertaining…
Yes, Margaret. 29,095 people died in Ireland in 2014. How is it possible that 50,000 die every year from alcohol alone in Ireland, when only 30,000 people die from illness, murder, suicide, accident, etc combined?
She knows that. she’s just trying to get ad many people as possible to read the article. Trolls are such weird creatures.
Well lookit.. I didnt start drinking till i was 18 so thats 5,616 pints and i plan to lve about 50 years after die so thats another 25,000 pints. I’m still in credit. Its fecking hard trying to meet my quota.
The troll account needs some new material , every new account he sets up he uses those exact statistics .
Brian , your comments are very amusing !
As I said, Suzie, I’m sick at the moment and can’t enjoy a pint. I have to get my kicks somehow. And no better way than trolling a troll!
Margaret, I’ve heard it’s actually 10 million………
Fair play , Keep up the good work !
Exactly, I can’t even remember the article now that I’m so caught up in reading the great Irish wit in the comments
Jaysus Margaret has done well tonight!
I think Margaret stood on her glasses and can’t find the keyboard to reply :)
It’s actually 88 deaths per month
@Margaret Power, you really should read the contents of the link thoroughly before you choose to post, your link clearly states that 88 deaths per month in Ireland are directly attributable to alcohol. Where you got the figure of 4288 is beyond comprehension. Brian was in no way being misogynistic, he called you out on your ridiculous posts – and burnt you, and rightly so. Now stop pretending to be your grandmother, there’s some Lego in the corner – go play with that.
Less than a pint a day? Rubbish! As the bible says …. Eat and drink for tomorrow we shall die.
There has been a creeping purism going on in this country and in Britain for the past few years in relation to the enjoyment of the pleasures of drinking alcoholic drinks, certain people won’t be content until we become the Saudi Arabia of Western Europe. We’re at the stage in this purist propaganda campaign that if you write anything in favour of drinking alcohol here you’re sure to receive millions of red thumbs, the real goal of these pleasure killers is the closer of all places where people congregate to consume booze. They must be resisted
Wow bro – I’m gonna read that in the morning – I’m on my 4th pint tonight and you lost me after the first three words.
Really hate this kind of crap. A few drinks at the weekend is most people’s entertainment. This kind of stuff tries to make you feel guilty for enjoying a few pints. Wonder are they putting this out for other motives.
Exactly Paddy. Same as the joyless uber exercise bores who come into work on Monday telling us how many million kms they ran/cycled/swam/ triathleted over the weekend. Keeping healthy obviously necessary, but the new holier than thou joyless Puritanism a right pain
8 million Irish people die of alcohol related diseases every hour. Time we copped on.
They’re generally only able for six pints god love them.
You’re being generous there Elma .
That change in headline makes my comment look sexist, it was meant to be xenophobic.
Drinking pints will kill us. Eating ham will kill us. We’re doomed! Doomed I say!!
Coffee, sugar, white bread, dangerous chemicals entering the body from soaps and shower gels, washing powders that cause cancer, too much sun, too much sex, not enough sex, plastics, statins, tight undies, food additives and preservatives, not exercising enough, exercising too much etc etc…
Sugar=cancer =death
Haha…I’d spill more than that ….
Irish men ….drink away!
Alcohol is a poison. Just look how it makes you feel the next day. Only when you give it up you realise you don’t need it to enjoy yourself. Red thumb away….
Just heading out to the local now for a few. Probably 6!
If my lift ever comes!!!
Just leaving my local now. Safe lift home organised. Friday night is the only night I can relax knowing I won’t be driving in the morning.
Welcome back, Nanny State, we missed you over the holidays.
Eat sausages, drink alcohol, do all the things the Nanny state tells you not to do and you die eventually. Don’t eat sausages, drink alcohol, obey the Nanny state’s every direction and you die eventually. Anyone for a pint and some sausages?
We are here for a good time, not a long time. Seriously though, 6 points is fairly acceptable
What gets me about this… Is it the alcohol or the drink as beer and other alcoholic drinks have other chemicals in them and the worst is Potassium Sorbate?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_sorbate
So “studies have shown that it is both genotoxic and mutagenic to human blood cells. Potassium sorbate is found to be toxic to human DNA in peripheral blood lymphocytes, and hence found that it negatively affects immunity. It is often used with ascorbic acid and iron salts as they increase its effectiveness but this tends to form mutagenic compounds that damage DNA molecules.”
“Potassium sorbate is used to inhibit molds and yeasts in many foods, such as cheese, wine, yogurt, dried meats, apple cider, soft drinks and fruit drinks, and baked goods”.
Makes you wonder is it the additives that do the most damage or just the alcohol alone?
Most Irish are in denial about how we drink too much.
This article is reasonable advice, and yet most will find it ridiculous. Says it all really.
Didn’t mention the changing to limit the risk to 1%…….!!!!!!
Which by he way is less dangerous than watching tv, or crossing he street.
More nanny state nonsense
Makes men grow boobs… Scary now lol.
Screw that! 2 sausages a month will give you throat, liver, pancreaticg, lung, face, eye, earlobe, finger nail blah blah blah. I’ve actually had cancer for real. So screw all this nanny bull. It’s a lottery. Live your life, don’t listen to all this boohhoo nonsense. Everything and anything can kill you. Im still here and enjoying my weekend wine. Ignore this nonsence and get on with it.
God!!wouldn’t you get sick of the craps. You have more chance of getting knocked down by a bus
@Dave barrett – True, especially if your drunk.
Not a chance with the way they glamorise alcohol consumption over there.
They drink lots of alcohol and innit and they want everyone to know abow it.
Thats the ‘Paddywhackery’ syndrome. Sadly the nation is promoted as a bunch of beer gussling drunken people ‘having the craic’ & talking s**t.
Everyone knows it’s bad for u and causes cancer.. We’ve known for years and will continue to drink.. It’s fun! As long as ur not drinking every day I think it’s grand, most of my parents family loved a drink at weekends, all in their 70s now. Two past away, in their mid 70s.. Ill stay drinking
You were born in 1989 I guess, making you 26.
Couple of kids, a mortgage & a dog might slow you down!
There is no safe limit for alcohol, get over it and have a beer.
Yeah right
Is that photo, a man drinking his own pee???
No, he’s drinking Budweiser, looks/tastes the same as piss tho.
True but I still miss Furstenberg on draught myself… Anything else looks awful lol.
I used to enjoy the mellow flavour of Nuremberg…..its all coming back to me now, the trials, the hangings, and finishing the day with a cool refreshing Nuremberg..
You didn’t find it ropey at all, lol.
I’m managing myself to six woman a week limit the Fury (hold me)
Thank the Lord we’re free.
Ah come on!!! You changed the headline… Guess ye could see the jokes coming a mile off.
Hick-hick woooopp
3 a week for me
@johnfinn5 where do we begin
Sure we’ll discuss it over 6pints of guinness i reckon
get real 6 pints is a warm up for a woman ..
FFS. Another cause of cancer. Yay,,, Cabbage soup diet it is, then…. unless cabbage also causes cancer…
Nothing wrong with the booze unless you let it impact work, family or health. The people that think it’s not are always the ones most at risk
Hic! Couldn’t agree more, hic! Mines a large one, hic!
Or impact all 3 at the same time.
Everytime I click my fingers, 1576 people in Ireland die of sambucca related illnesses… Mostly burn related.
6 pints of whiskey
My dear
Find what you love and let it kill you.
Let it drain you of your all. Let it cling onto your back and weigh you down into eventual nothingness.
Let it kill you and let it devour your remains.
For all things will kill you, both slowly and fastly,, but it’s much better to be killed by a lover.
Charles Bukowsky
*night
Next thing you know we’ll be forced to pee sitting down!
Ireland is No. 11 in the World-wide ‘drinking’ charts. We were No. 1 3 yrs ago.
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