Alcohol Awareness Week: Time to re-think your drink?

Published by Emma Hemmings for HCL Marketing Communications in Health and also in Communities

South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) is urging people to ‘re-think your drink’ during Alcohol Awareness Week (19 - 23 October 2009).

The week has been organised to support the Government’s ‘Know Your Limits’ campaign, which is encouraging people to take stock of how much they are drinking by keeping a drink diary for a week.

Over a quarter of the population in the West Midlands drink above the guidelines for lower risk drinking.

The Chief Medical Officer's guidelines on lower-risk drinking recommend men do not drink more than 3-4 units daily (drinking about two pints or two cans of normal-strength lager or beer on a regular basis) and women do not drink more than 2-3 units daily (regularly drinking about a large glass of wine or three single measures of spirits).

Drinking above these levels can increase your risk of heart disease, breast cancer, liver disease, stroke and other diseases. Drinking above lower-risk guidelines can also impact on your ability to get a good night’s sleep and affect your general day-to-day health.

South Staffordshire PCT’s Interim Director of Public Health, Dr Aliko Ahmed said: “We’re fully supportive of the ‘Know Your Limits’ campaign. In addition to complementing the PCT's existing work stream aimed at reducing alcohol related harm, the campaign will also help raise awareness to the people in South Staffordshire on how alcohol can affect their individual and family health.”

These are the unit strengths of some common drinks:

Drink                              Size of Glass                    Volume               No. of Units
Wine                             standard 175ml                     12%                      2.1
Wine                            large 250ml glass                 12%                      3
Wine                            750ml bottle                            13.5%                  10
Beer/lager                         pint                                     4%                         2.3
Beer/lager                         pint                                     5.2%                      3
Strong cider                      440ml can                        9%                          4
Strong cider                      litre                                     9%                          9
Alcopops                           275ml bottle                     5%                         1.4
Spirits (e.g. vodka/gin)   25ml single                      40%                        1
Spirits (e.g. vodka/gin)   50ml double                     40%                        2

To find out more information about alcohol units or the Know Your Limits campaign visit www.nhs.uk/units.