Regularly drinking more than 14 units a week risks damaging your health.
Regularly drinking more than 14 units a week risks damaging your health.
Fourteen units is equivalent to six pints of average-strength beer or 10 small glasses of low-strength wine.
New evidence around the health harms from regular drinking have emerged in recent years.
There is now a better understanding of the link between drinking and some illnesses, including a range of cancers.
The previously held position that some level of alcohol was good for the heart has been revised.
It is now thought that the evidence on a protective effect from moderate drinking is less strong than previously thought.
To keep health risks from alcohol to a low level if you drink most weeks:
If you're pregnant or think you could become pregnant, the safest approach is not to drink alcohol at all to keep risks to your baby to a minimum.
Read more on pregnancy and alcohol .
If you drink less than 14 units a week, this is considered low-risk drinking.
It's called "low risk" rather than "safe" because there is no safe drinking level.
The type of illnesses you can develop after 10 to 20 years of regularly drinking more than 14 units a week include:
The effects of alcohol on your health will depend on how much you drink. The less you drink, the lower the health risks.
Read about alcohol units to work out how much alcohol there is in your drinks.
Drinking too much too quickly on any single occasion can increase your risk of:
To reduce your health risks on any single session:
Important: Our website provides useful information but is not a substitute for medical advice. You should always seek the advice of your doctor when making decisions about your health.