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One in 10 breach weekly drinking limits in a day
Nearly one in 10 people drinks in excess of the controversial new recommended alcohol limit of 14 units per week – in a single day.
The new guidance says that drinking more than six pints of 4% beer or six medium glasses of 13% wine per week, for both men and women, is excessive (Photo: Wiki)
Newly released Office for National statistic figures show 9% of British people drank more than 14 units of alcohol on one day in the week before they were surveyed.
It equates to around 2.5 million people drinking more than the new weekly recommended guidance in just a day, raising questions about the effectiveness of the new guidance.
Critics have panned the latest drinking recommendations announced by the government’s chief medical officer in January, saying that the lowering of limit to 14 units – or six pints of regular beer – for both men and women per week is too strict for the public to take notice.
Wales had the highest percentage of people who had drunk more than the new weekly guideline in a single day (14%), followed by Scotland (13%).
In the same 2014 survey, the results of which have only now been calibrated, some 45% of drinkers, or 12.9 million people, drank more than 4.67 units – a third of the new weekly guideline – on their heaviest drinking day in week before their interview.
Over half (52%) of male drinkers had drunk more than 4.67 units on their heaviest day, and over a third (37%) of women drinkers exceeded the same level.
The highest percentages who had drunk alcohol in the previous week were in the South East (62%) and the South West (62%) of England. London had the lowest percentage, at 51%, followed by Wales (53%). Northern Ireland was not included in the survey.
ONS statistician Jamie Jenkins said there is “a significant group of other people who are drinking well in excess of the latest health advice.”
Responding to the figures, a spokesman from the Portman Group, which represents the drinks industry, told the BBC: “The vast majority of adults drink sensibly and safely; part of a decade-long improvement in our relationship with alcohol in this country.
“Underage-drinking, alcohol-related crime and drink driving are also in sustained decline.”
I always thought the guideline levels were spurious. With a bottle of wine containing 10 units, I know plenty of wine traders that are getting through a bottle a day, plus maybe a couple of beers at lunch. I imagine there are plenty drinking in excess of the weekly limit of 14 units EVERY day of the week, never mind just on one day.