NHS to lower recommended units for ‘safe’ drinking

The UK’s chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, is likely to reduce the recommended “safe” number of alcohol units and advise pregnant women not to drink at all.

Dame Sally Davies is expected to significantly reduce the recommended levels for “low-risk” alcohol consumption

The current guidelines have been followed since they were published in the government report Sensible Drinking back in 1995, and are now under review by Dame Davies after consultants warned the levels are “almost certainly unsafe”.

The NHS’s daily recommendations for “low-risk” drinking currently stand at three to four units for a man and two to three units for women – while weekly limits state that in total, men should not exceed 21 units and women 14.

Since the 1995 report was published, scientists have learned more about the links between alcohol and life-threatening diseases such as cancer.

Research has also found that daily intake suggestions are “irrelevant” as most people in the UK do not drink everyday, but do drink heavily at weekends.

New guidelines will be published next year – and the recommended units are expected to be significantly lowered, with pregnant women recommended to abstain altogether.

A study published earlier this year revealed that on average one in seven adults in the UK choose to drink alcohol over water.