Have you seen the advert on TV explaining how many units of alcohol are in drinks? This advert is produced by the Department of Health to try and target middle aged binge drinkers. I think this is about time, being of the younger generations I think its about time we stopped getting blamed for this counties excess drinking habits. Ok so we may go out on a Saturday and get a little drunk but how many young people do you know go home and have a drink (even if their on their own) every night?
Just for your curiosity I did a little research to explain more about the units system.
To calculate units – multiply volume of drink in ml % of alcohol content then divide the answer by 1000, e.g. 750 ml x 12 = 9000/1000 = 9 units.
It is recommended that women consume no more than 2/3 units per day and men 3/4 units per day (this is with two days off a week). This is the equivalent to a pint of beer for men and a standard glass of wine of women, however if the drinks are stronger this can be reduced to half a pint or a small glass. This means that the anyone having a couple of glasses of wine a night means they are risking their health. However there is some good news as a small amount of alcohol after the age of 50 can help prevent some heart disease!
- 1 pint = 568 ml
- 1 small wine glass = 125 ml
- 1 standard wine glass = 175 ml
- 1 large wine glass = 250 ml
- Average pint of beer = 2.3 units
- Average pint of cider = 2.8 units
- Average small glass of wine = 1.5 units
- Single shot of spirits = 1 unit
- Average alcopop = 1.4 units
I tried to find out the legal limit for drinking and driving in units but being the government they can’t make anything easy so it’s only available in mg/ml (alcohol/blood). The technical legal limit is 80mg/100ml but as there is no way for the average person to measure this it is easier not to drink if you’re driving.
Useful websites:
I don’t want to wait until i’m after 50
. Thanks for your article, really useful.
Nice article there Pea, some useful stuff. Some more of that and we’ll actually have some stuff worth reading!
It’s worth noting that you can’t translate the 80mg/100ml driving limit directly into units because there are other factors beside the quantity of alcohol consumed that affect drunkenness, e.g. how long since you consumed it and how much blood you have in the first place. So it’s not quite that simple
Will, it does say this in the article: “The technical legal limit is 80mg/100ml but as there is no way for the average person to measure this it is easier not to drink if you’re driving.”, for me the words “technical” and “no way for the average person to measure this” gave it away