Don't waste your units

There’s been a lot in the news of late about alcohol consumption and the UK government changing its advice about how much you should and shouldn’t drink. Given the subject of my blog, I felt I ought to throw in my opinion – in case anyone’s interested! I know it’s a detour from the 300 beer list, but relevant right?

The previous advice was that a man could drink 3-4 units a day and a woman 2-3 and be at a lower health risk. I’ve often wondered why men were “allowed” more than women, but never found out the answer. The new guidelines have corrected this and the new advice is that the risks increase above 2-3 units per day, irrespective of whether you are male or female. They recommend that you should not exceed 14 units a week, and have at least 2 days every week where you don’t consume any alcohol. All in all, these new guidelines are much tighter than the previous ones.

Are they right to do this? I’m not a doctor, and I can’t honestly say whether the new guidelines are necessary or what the real impacts of drinking small (or otherwise) amounts of alcohol are. I’ve not delved into the depths of the science behind the recommendations, but do know how difficult it is to study such things. The impact of drinking alcohol would need to be studied over a lifetime, and this is extremely hard to do. It’s also very difficult to exclude other factors which can affect your results.

The issue is that the NHS (in the UK) have to spend a great deal of money on treating people whose illnesses are in some way linked to alcohol. Whether we are talking about an alcohol addiction or a one-off trip to A&E on a Saturday night after a heavy session, there is a cost associated with it – and this cost is rather large. The government have to tackle the issue in some way, and you can make up your own mind whether this is the way to go about that.

The truth is, drinking any amount of alcohol can affect your health. I can’t argue with that, and it all comes down to the lifestyle choices we make. You can’t force people to stop drinking any more than you can force them to go to the gym. All you can do is offer the best advice possible and let them make up their own minds.

So where do I stand, writing my beer blog and having said all the above? There is a risk to drinking alcohol, I make no secret of that and urge everyone to do so responsibly.

If you are going to drink though, make it count! Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean go nuts and binge yourself into a walloping hang-over, I just mean emphasise quality rather than quantity. Don’t waste your units. Set yourself a limit you are happy with and stick to it. Don’t guzzle the cheapest or weakest beers or wines without thought.

When I turned 18 (ish) I drank the standard lagers on offer in my local pub. Don’t judge me too harshly, I just didn’t know any better! Nowadays, I choose what I want to drink and would rather have one pint of a quality and delicious beer than guzzling down any old rubbish on offer.

If you limit yourself to one pint (or whatever you choose), then make sure it’s a good one!

 

To finish, as a guide, one pint of a good quality ale at 5% equates to 2.8 units.