BMJ  2007;335:1008 (17 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.39395.435984.80

Letters

Alcohol confusion

What is a unit?

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

A recent BMJ editorial1 discussed the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) report on cancer2 and commented on the report's recommendation that men should drink no more than two units of alcohol a day and women no more than one unit a day. These recommendations are much lower than current government advice in Britain.2 This highlights a widespread confusion regarding units of alcohol and "standard" drinks—WCRF "drinks" contain 10-15 g of ethanol and British units contain 8 g.

Although a unit is often taken as one drink (half a pint of beer or one glass of wine), this is not the case. One pint of beer (4.2%) contains 2.4 units and a 175 ml glass of wine (12%) contains 2.1 units. The Department of Health leaflet, How Much is Too Much?, promises information on the number of units in alcoholic drinks. It advises using smaller glasses, stating that a 125 . . . [Full text of this article]

Rachel Seabrook, research manager

Institute of Alcohol Studies, St Ives, Cambridgeshire PE27 5AR

rseabrook@ias.org.uk


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