Balance, the North East alcohol office, has welcomed the Chief Medical Officer’s (CMO) recommendations which state people should not drink regularly more than 14 units per week.
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The 14 units of alcohol per week is the equivalent of six small glasses of wine or five pints of beer at 5% ABV strength.
As a result of the changes in the British guidelines, men in the Republic can drink three pints a week more than their counterparts in the North and still be considered at “low risk” of harm from alcohol.
Officials say the full extent of the correlation between alcohol and cancer was not properly understood when the previous public health guidelines were issued in 1995.
SHAAP is advising the Scottish Government in its attempts to introduce Minimum Unit Pricing, which is being challenged by the global drinks industry in the courts.
The guidelines say: “There is no justification for recommending drinking on health grounds – nor for starting drinking for health reasons”.
These guidelines are supported by a new review from the Committee on Carcinogenicity (CoC) on alcohol and cancer risk. “A good way to reduce alcohol intake is to have several alcohol free days a week”, the department said in its advisory. According to the previous guidelines, women were advised to drink no more than 2-3 units a day and men no more than 3-4.
The study clarified that no level of alcohol is safe to drink during pregnancy.
Among men, for cirrhosis of the liver, those who regularly drink two units a day have a 57pc increased risk of dying from the disease compared with non-drinkers.
New guidelines say there is no such thing as a safe level of drinking.
However, the latest guidance hasn’t differentiated between men and women, and cut the recommended consumption to 14 units across the whole week.
He said: “There is not a clear consensus in terms of what’s going on with heart disease, but it sounds like what the Chief Health Officer has done is erred on the side of caution, and taken a conservative view of the research”. Now you have an excuse to stop worrying so much.
Even the touted heart benefits of moderate alcohol only apply for women older than 55, the guidelines added.
Women who find out they are pregnant after already having drunk during early pregnancy, should avoid further drinking, but should be aware that it is unlikely in most cases that their baby has been affected.
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Under the new guidance, people are told to limit their drinking, drink water and ensure they are safe on nights out.
