Units
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.