Advice for adults over 25 about alcohol and health. Heavy drinking can seriously damage your health, but for people over 40, light drinking may have some health benefits.
Sensible Drinking
Lots of people associate drinking with relaxation, socialising and having a good time.
If you are an adult in good health and with a good diet, drinking within the sensible drinking guidelines probably will not harm you.
The amount you can drink without increasing risk of harm to your health depends on your age, sex, weight and various other factors.
However, if you are pregnant or trying to conceive, the latest Department of Health advice is that you should not drink any alcohol at all.
Health Benefits of Light Drinking
Many experts now agree that light drinking - one or two units a day - can have certain health benefits for people over 40.
There is evidence that drinking at that level may help with your cholesterol and may help reduce development of coronary heart disease in men over 40 and in post-menopausal women.
A glass of red wine is widely acknowledged as particularly beneficial.
Heavy Drinking Can Damage Your Health
Nearly six million people in England and Wales drink twice the recommended weekly limit. 7% of all adults in Britain are dependent on alcohol. Media stories focus on young people binge drinking, but alcohol abuse is not confined to a small problem minority.
Drinking more than the recommended number of units regularly over a long period of time can lead to:
certain types of cancer, especially breast cancer
memory loss, brain damage or even dementia
increased risk of heart disease and certain types of stroke
liver disease, such as cirrhosis and liver cancer
stomach ulcers
The death rate from alcohol-related illnesses for men and women aged between 35 and 54 almost doubled between 1991 and 2004.
For more advice, you can download a leaflet for adults over 25 - How Much is Too Much? or visit the Drink Aware website.
Older People
Your body's ability to process alcohol decreases with age. This is because your body's water content decreases, which means there is a higher concentration of alcohol in your blood.
Drinking might also make you unsteady on your feet and if you fall, you are more likely to have a serious injury, such as broken bones.
In addition, if you are taking medication it could be harmful if you combine it with alcohol. Or alcohol could reduce the effectiveness of the medication.
