Alcohol Limits

Angie's stock of red wine

The latest guidelines on healthy drinking have certainly given me something to ponder. In short, it appears that there is no safe limit, so consuming any number of alcoholic drinks will increase my risk of dying from an alcohol-related condition.

Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter has defined drinking 14 units week as 'low risk'; that is, it gives me less than a 1% chance of dying from an alcohol-related condition. That 14 unit level is unchanged from the old guidelines for women, but I confess to drinking in excess of this over many years.  I don't care for spirits, except the occasional dram of Single Malt, and don't much care for beer either, but I do like a nice glass of Sauvignon Blanc or a smooth Italian Puglia. Here's a typical week's drinking for me:

Monday to Thursday: one medium-sized glass of wine each day, total 8 units
Friday: no alcohol
Saturday: one medium-sized glass at lunchtime and half a bottle with my evening meal, total 6½ units
Sunday: half a bottle of wine, total 4½ units
Weekly total: 19 units.

I also have a few rules about alcoholic drinks that I strictly impose upon myself:
• never with spicy food (a waste of good wine as the taste gets lost on me)
• never alone
• never when I'm upset
• never to quench my thirst

So what do my drinking habits look like when set against other risks?  I have The Guardian to thank for this helpful bar graph, which appeared in yesterday's edition:

The increased risks don't look huge at the dark blue and yellow levels, but they are significant. However, there are other lifestyle choices that could have a greater impact.  The same edition of The Guardian reported that:

“An hour of TV watching a day, or a bacon sandwich a couple of times a week, 

is more dangerous to your long-term health." 

More dangerous still is being overweight, and sadly my weight has been creeping up again over the past few months — not to an obese level, but worryingly close to it. So I've re-activated my Noom smartphone app to log my exercise, and set a calorie limit to knock off 1½lb a week.  I think I'll also try cutting out wine for one more day a week.  Yes, that will definitely help.

I wonder what the next health scare — real or contrived — will be. Curried Eggs again?