People need to know how much alcohol they are drinking. In the UK, we do this by measuring alcohol in units. This tells us how much alcohol we are drinking.

Units are calculated by multplying the amount of liquid (volume) in milliltres in the alcoholic drink and then multipyling it by the alochol by volume (% of alcohol). You then divide this by 1000 which tells you how many units are in the drink.

E.g: 2 litre of strong cider. 2000mls (amount) x 8% abv (alcohol by volume) = 16,000. This is then divided by 1000 and this tells us there are 16 units in the drink. An average alcopop contains around 1.5 units. A half bottle of vodka contains around 13 units.

The recommended daily maximum drinking limits for men and women are different. Adult males - no more than 3-4 units per day. Adult females- no more than 2-3 units per day. It is also advisable to have 2-3 alcohol free days per week to allow the liver to recover.
 
People should not save up their daily limits to drink all at the same time. Drinking double your maximum daily limit on one day is known as "binge drinking" and increases the risk of harm. There are no safe drinking guidelines for young people under the age of 18 years.