UK low--‐risk drinking guidelines
UK guidelines for low risk drinking recommend that men should not regularly drink more than3 to 4 units of alcohol per day and women should not regularly drink more than 2 to 3 units of alcohol per day, in order to reduce risks of long-term harm from drinking [14]. A unit of alcohol in the UK is about 10ml or 8g of absolute alcohol and is roughly equivalent to half a pint of regular strength beer, 85 ml or about half a glass of 12% wine or a single measure (25ml) of spirits. Baumberg et al [15] examined UK drinking patterns based on a national household survey and estimated that 46.6% (ฑ 2.0%) of all alcohol consumed in the UK was drunk in excess of these daily low risk drinking guidelines. Given the substantial underreporting in self‐report surveys of alcohol consumption [16] it can be concluded that at least half of all the alcohol consumed in the UK is consumed above government approved low risk drinking guidelines.