Alcohol -- a Controlled Risk

"We recommend that healthy men and women reduce the risk of harm by drinking no more than ten standard drinks per week and no more than four standard drinks on any one day."
"[Additionally there is now] greater certainty about links between alcohol and a number of different cancers."
"Drinking above this level increases this risk [of dying from alcohol-related disease or injury], while drinking less frequently and drinking less on each occasion reduces this lifetime risk of alcohol-related harm."
National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia

"We are not saying this is a level that completely eliminates risk."
"The less you choose to drink, the lower your risk of alcohol related harm."
"[The guidelines are] not telling Australians how much to drink. We’re providing advice about the health risks from drinking alcohol so that we can all make informed decisions in our daily lives – for ourselves and for our children." 
"It’s ten years since our last review of the guidelines and we now know more about the effects of alcohol. We know that alcohol continues to have significant direct health consequences for many Australians."
Anne Kelso, report author, Medical Research Council chief executive

A new study suggests you may want to stop after this drink

Yutacar / Unsplash

For the first time in ten years Australia has altered its guidelines for alcohol consumption, releasing a study containing consumer guidelines, updating them from previous such advice of two drinks each day being safe, for a total of 14 weekly. That total is now reduced to no more than ten drinks weekly. A standard drink is epitomized by approximately ten grams of alcohol, the equivalent of one glass of wine. Typically a pint of beer has an alcohol volume of around 5.5 percent, or 15 grams of alcohol.

Under these new guideli8nes, 1-1/2 pint-sized beers is seen as the outer limit for an adult. The type of beer is also to be taken into account such that drinking a stronger beer or increasing the amount poured into a mug should also be taken into account accordingly, since without taking these points into consideration, a drinker could wind up consuming more than a standard serving, requiring some self discipline in limiting themselves.

Further evidence has accumulated in the past decade since the last guidelines. (Syda Productions/Shtterstock)

Australia's move is not that far off guidelines issued by the Center for Disease Control in the United States which defines moderate drinking as one drink daily for women and "up to two" drinks for men. Statistics from the CDC note furthermore that "excessive" alcohol consumption was known to have led to 88,000 alcohol-associated deaths yearly, taking an average 30 years off life expectancy for those affected, according to its latest findings dating back to 2010.

"Young people in the emergency department with alcohol poisoning, having drunk so much they can’t keep themselves safe. Some at risk of their breathing stopping. I also see the smashed up faces, young and old."
"On the other hand, I also see people who used to drink too much but who have now cut back or stopped. Their sleep has improved, their mood has improved, their blood pressure has returned to normal. So working out what amount of drinking is OK for health is so important."
Kate Conigrave, chair, NHMRC alcohol working committee -- professor of addiction medicine, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney

The National Health and Medical Research Council’s new guidelines on drinking alcohol say adults should have no more than 10 standard drinks a week – or roughly 1.4 a day – to reduce health risks. Photograph: Caiaimage/Paul Bradbury/Getty Images

The Medical Research Council spent three years in studied research in updating the risks or benefits in relation to consuming alcohol. Pointing out in their report that the risk of alcohol-related diseases like heart and liver disease, high blood pressure and digestive problems drops significantly when alcohol consumption is reduced. The report stops just short of claiming two drinks daily represents a safe level =- rather, that it represents an acceptable risk.

In addition to which the report took pains to recommend that adolescents under 18 years of age should ideally consume no alcohol whatever, since it is well known to harm brain development and increase the risk of injury.