h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I mean, I *know* some women can...

I've just seen a public health-type advert on the tell-o-vision which is presumably trying to reduce binge-drinking amongst the laydeez. It has the strapline "units, they add up" or something daft like that.

One of the things in the advert was "if you (ladies) drink more than 2-3 units a day...".

Now, the "old" made-up figures were 14 units a week for women (i.e. 2 a day) and 21 units a week (3 a day) for men. It appears that women have received a complimentary upgrade from government "scientists".

So, all round, girls! Have an extra one on me!

Oh, this is "Ask" so here's a question: Does anyone believe this rubbish that the government puts out (in our name, and at our expense)?

RF

I don't believe it. I don't think it takes into account that people's bodies acclimatise to the their level of drinking, the speed of drinking, the purity and alcohol percentage of the drink, or the age of the drinker.

If you don't know when you've had enough just keep drinking: you'll get the hang of it eventually

Nope, don't believe a word of it!

I think the 2-3 a day is to stop the 14 unit a night bingers so they say to have 2-3 on one night and have a couple of drink free days a week. So the 14 probably still counts. But hey, lets just pick a random number. I know women who can drink blokes under the table and still walk home in a straight line.

But for me, is grape juice so at least one of my 5 a day!

I'm unsure...

I mean, you don't feel like 21 units a week, or a day, are doing you damage because you feel bad for a bit, then you recover and everything's ok.

But maybe its to do with research on longer-term effects of alcohol?

I think I'm on 10+ units for tonight and that's just a quiet night in with the housemates - i.e. the right amount of alcohol that our computer gaming performance is at its peak. It doesn't *feel* damaging.

Your figures are quite different from ours; according to the USDA women should have no more than a single 5 ounce serving per day.

Not that I have a problem with that. I had three glasses of red wine on Saturday, but that was the first time I'd drank this year.

I very much doubt if I have 14 units per year.



What a dull person I've turned into.....

even a single alcoholic drink will adversely affect your reflexes and coordination. recommended safe consumption is largely based on bodyweight and minimum performance standards for things like driving. further, last i heard, the research has reversed earlier 'findings' that moderate consumption of alcohol as per the mediterranean diet is beneficial.

if the drinks for women has been upped this is likely because women today are typically fatter. fairly obviously these consumption guidelines are only that. guides.

i should add at this point that recommended alcohol consumption for women who are pregnant or likely to become pregnant is zero. no recreational drug is more hazardous to fetal development than alcohol.

fact is that if alcohol were a new recreational drug, no country on earth would allow it to be sold. but since it involves billions of dollars of commercial profit: it stays.

ftr i do consume alcohol and don't mind what other people use chemical wise. tho i'd probably tell someone i caught in my front garden mainlining bleach, to bugger off.

Whose idea was it to call the unit of alcohol consumption the 'unit'?

For as long as I can remember, women have been told their limit is 14-21 units per week and men that it's 21-28 units per week. That works out at 2-3 units per day for women and 3-4 units per day for men. So a woman's upper limit is the same as a man's lower limit. That does _not_ mean a woman can, or should, drink as much as a man, IMO. However, I'm fairly sure that some women, especially young ones, will take the figures to mean that.

The official government guidelines are given on the DrinkAware website. The Be Aware section does mention that safe limits are affected by age, sex, weight and other factors. It also has sections for young men and women, pregnancy, parents and older people. Here's the link: http://www.drinkaware.co.uk/be-aware.html

One of my problems with these is that 1 'unit' does not mean '1 drink'. The value of a unit is something odd, meaning that a pint of lager comes to somewhere between 2 and 3 units.
Now, I can't believe that someone would come to harm from drinking a pint and a half once a day every day.

>> Whose idea was it to call the unit of alcohol consumption the 'unit'? <<

It has to be stupifyingly simple so that even drunks can understand it. Millilitres of alcohol was too small, litres too large, percentage-by-volume and percentage-proof were far too confusing since they were relative measures and you even had to divide one of them by two. Most people still measure it in pints I believe, which is precise enough for most uses, though since I started drinking I've adopted bottles as my preferred unit, rather worryingly.

To answer the OP, I don't believe the government figures, simply because if they were correct I would be dead.

I think we should suggest a better name. Perhaps a famous drunk, for example? We could have the (Dean) Martin, the (Oliver) Reed, the (George) Best, or the (Johnny) Vegas...

Working from memory, it used to be reckoned that 1 unit of alcohol was the amount in 1/2 pint of beer, a small glass of wine (red or white), a standard sherry or port, a small single of spirits. The snag is that drinks have got stronger over the years. Besides, who ever buys just 1/2 pint of beer, or a small glass of wine, or a small single of spirits. Men drink in pints, and recently I haven't seen 'small' glasses of wine served in pubs.

The NHS have a website where you can check the effects of your drinking. You can find it here: http://www.drinkcheck.nhs.uk/

They also do a 'unit calculator' so you can calculate how many units you're drinking in one 'session'. You can find that here: http://www.units.nhs.uk/unitCalculator.html

"I don't believe the government figures, simply because if they were correct I would be dead."

Not necessarily dead, but you're not doing your liver any favours, amongst other bits.

Now, I have to confess, I am a binge drinker. I dont drink regularly, I rarely have a drink at home, but the other week I had FOUR ciders in a night out.

Of course, sunday nights' bottle of Asti, double norsk and several bottles of cider probably weren't the most sensible things. I dont excessively over-drink though, I dont keep giong for 12 hours, I do drink sft drinks and water, I have food if I start early etc and I dont do it every weekend (cant afford to).

Yes, I'm doing damage to my body. I also drive a car, ride horses, get up in the morning, smoke when I feel like it etc. It's all damaging, but I dont do anything to excess and as such , I think I keep a god balance and my body has plenty of time and opportunity to repar itself...

Now, heavy drinking of lots of alcohol two or three times in a weekend, every weekend (except the odd one off rather than the odd one on) plus four or five pints a couple of nights a week *is* going to do you damage.

I think part of the problem is that the standardized units come from Europe, where they do drink half-pints (or rather 25cl). When I went to Ftrance with some friends recently, we went into several bars where the only large glasses they had were for Strongbow. All of our beers in any kind of flavour ended up in Strongbow glasses.

Hmmm, saw the adverts for the first time last night, womens and mens. They really are crap aren't they?

Re the cobblers sponsored by the government, not sure. Regular 'binge' drinking will damage you, even if you do have a recovery break between bouts, which isn't to say that the damage done is either long term or severe.

Isn't this in response to the study that was on the news a while back that it is the middles classes, guzzling a few glasses of wine every night, that are doing long-term damage to their health without realising that they are actually getting through quite a lot of booze? And also to point out that glasses have got bigger and drinks stronger than they used to be.

I'm saving up my units - by my recoking, from abstaining during pregnancy and while feeding The Boy I am owed almost 1000 units, and with the same again for #2 this amounts to the mother of all sessions in about 2 years