Two standard alcoholic drinks a day no longer safe

Australia | Dry January is upon us. Those still imbibing may want to take note of Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Its new tougher guideline recommends no more than 1.4 drinks per day.

The NHMRC’s new guidelines on drinking alcohol say that adults should have no more than 10 standard drinks a week – or roughly 1.4 per day – to reduce health risks. 1.4 standard drinks equal 375 ml of a full-strength beer or 150 ml of white wine. The maximum an adult should have on a single day is four standard drinks.

In the past, the recommended quantity was two standard drinks per day.

The updated advice comes after three years of research into the harms of alcohol and its link to diseases. But Anne Kelso, the NHMRC’s chief executive, was quoted as saying that the guidelines were “not telling Australians how much to drink”.

The new guidelines also recommend that people under the age of 18 should not drink alcohol at all. Neither should women “who are pregnant or planning a pregnancy. For women who are breastfeeding, not drinking alcohol is safest for their baby.”