Are the recommended weekly drinking guidelines too cautious or are we all dipso's??

roro1990 · 28-01-2015 7:19pm #1

Just curious to hear opinion on this as I was thinking about it earlier. I think the recommended weekly average is about 9 pints of beer for men and 6 for women. I personally drink twice a week and would sink 6-8 pints at least one of them nights and probably about 5 on the other night. Some weeks a lot more.

From what I've seen around me, most people who drink are easily in excess of these safe drinking limits. What i'm wondering is the opinion of AH on whether they're too cautious? We'll all die anyway, so will the benefit of staying within these limits really add that many years to our lives? I'd rather have a social life. And for anyone who says they enjoy a great social life without drinking, fair play to you. But it happens to be something I enjoy doing. Thoughts?

frag420 · 28-01-2015 7:21pm

I enjoy a great social life without alcohol....

castletownman · 28-01-2015 7:24pm

frag420 wrote: »

I enjoy a great social life without alcohol....

Well done. Why the apparent condescending tone though?

As regards the OP, yes I do think it's too cautious. Like any health guidelines, both individual metabolisms, and family history should be taken into account, instead of a blanket survey to cover all bases.

El Weirdo · 28-01-2015 7:26pm

frag420 wrote: »

I enjoy a great social life without alcohol....

A big round of applause for the fantastic frag420, ladies and gentlemen.

snubbleste · 28-01-2015 7:27pm

It's 3-4 litres of water per day isn't it?
Otherwise you can die from too much H2O

Donkey Oaty · 28-01-2015 7:27pm

roro1990 wrote: »

Just curious to hear opinion on this as I was thinking about it earlier. I think the recommended weekly average is about 9 pints of beer for men and 6 for women.

Chin chin! Let's obey the experts, that's what I say.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/a-bottle-of-wine-a-day-is-not-bad-for-you-and-abstaining-is-worse-than-drinking-scientist-claims-9271010.html

Honey Monster · 28-01-2015 7:27pm

Op you drink too much.

Arsemageddon · 28-01-2015 7:32pm

My name's my Asemageddon and I'm an alcoholic....

.....according to the recommended drinking guidelines.

BetterThanThou · 28-01-2015 7:36pm

Personally, 9 pints seems fairly grand. Not gonna lie, I overdo that nearly every time I drink, but I'm positive that's pretty bad for you, hell, I probably had the equivalent of about 40-50 pints 3 nights over the weekend, if not more, that would be including shots and bottles as well though. Incredibly unhealthy thing to do, but it's great craic. I'm sure if I were to do that every weekend it wouldn't take long before it would take it's toll. On an average week that I do go out, I'd probably drink about 10 pints over the night and stay away from drink for the rest of the week.

Agricola · 28-01-2015 7:42pm

I'd say the limits are reasonable. 12 pints plus every weekend, most weekends of every year can only have a damaging effect on your health in the long term. It won't improve it anyway. If we were French, Italian, Spanish or Japanese we would think such consumption was madness. But we're conditioned by our culture to think it's grand.

kneemos · 28-01-2015 7:45pm

We have the same guidelines as other countries. In other countries they find it reasonable.

suicide_circus · 28-01-2015 7:46pm

Would be rare that I'd get through 9 pints in a week nowadays.

The Backwards Man · 28-01-2015 7:50pm

I can enjoy myself without drink quite easily, if I needed beer to have a good time I'd never sober.

Mr. Incognito · 28-01-2015 7:50pm

9 pints a week is a lot. I would have about 5 to 6 pints one night out a fortnight or so.

tayto lover · 28-01-2015 7:55pm

21 units for a man = 10.5 pints per week.
14 units for a female = 7 pints per week.

That's the recommended safe amounts.
I drink about 12 units per week but used to drink a lot more.

Sir Osis of Liver. · 28-01-2015 7:56pm

The Doctor looked me squarely in the eye. "You seriously need to reduce your alcohol intake or you'll ruin what's left of your liver completely."

"Fcuk off, Doc," I replied. "You always say that when it's your round. Get the beers in, you tight cnut."

roro1990 · 28-01-2015 7:58pm

tayto lover wrote: »

21 units for a man = 10.5 pints per week.
14 units for a female = 7 pints per week.

That's the recommended safe amounts.
I drink about 12 units per week but used to drink a lot more.

where did these recommended amounts come from? Not saying they're wrong but I sourced mine from http://www.yourdrinking.ie/about-alcohol/what-is-a-standard-drink/ Apparently we're supposed to have 17 standard drinks which according to this website equates to 8.5 pints. Naturally I rounded it up to 9 though

Vojera · 28-01-2015 7:59pm

To be honest I think the problem we have with drink isn't the amount of units in a week, it's the amount of units in a session. All well and good drinking 21 units a week, but drinking them all in one night can't be good for you.

roro1990 · 28-01-2015 8:00pm

Honey Monster wrote: »

Op you drink too much.

I'm quite aware of this fact, well based on the recommended limits anyway. I'm wondering is too much subjective though. I know aul lads that do be in the pub 6 nights a week having 6 pints every night and have been for 30 years, not a bother on them. Maybe they got lucky but I dunno.

Penny Tration · 28-01-2015 8:04pm

According to the chart roro posted, I go through around 10 units per fortnight. I thought i consumed more than that in units.

Cookie_Monster · 28-01-2015 8:07pm

snubbleste wrote: »

It's 3-4 litres of water per day isn't it?
Otherwise you can die from too much H2O

isn't three a recommended minimum? It's a hell of a lot more than 4 to kill you though

anncoates · 28-01-2015 8:14pm

Normal week I'd have anything between 2 to 8 drinks. Hard to say exactly because it varies so much. Occasionally it could be more if something like a wedding or trip away comes up.

Not particularly bothered about homilies on needing to drink to have a good time. I can have a perfectly good time without drink but I like a pint.

Pug160 · 28-01-2015 8:18pm

Donkey Oaty wrote: »

Chin chin! Let's obey the experts, that's what I say.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/a-bottle-of-wine-a-day-is-not-bad-for-you-and-abstaining-is-worse-than-drinking-scientist-claims-9271010.html

The thing is, most of us are intelligent and self aware enough to realise if we're trying to kid ourselves. For every one of those articles (which seems to have been published by The Daily Mail) there are a million articles which highlight the dangers of anything above a small amount of alcohol. We can play around with numbers and play around with ambiguity and individual differences, but for anyone who is health and appearance conscious, putting a limit on alcohol consumption is usually a high priority.

Drinking small amounts of alcohol could very well be better than going teetotal, but to suggest that it's healthy to drink a bottle of wine a day is going down dangerous territory.

suicide_circus · 28-01-2015 8:20pm

I'm sure with a little effort I could get myself up to the recommended 10 pints per week

Jinonatron · 28-01-2015 8:20pm

Drink about 4 beers every two weeks. Couldn't handle more.

Capt'n Midnight · 28-01-2015 8:24pm

roro1990 wrote: »

Just curious to hear opinion on this as I was thinking about it earlier. I think the recommended weekly average is about 9 pints of beer for men and 6 for women.

Oh Crap :eek:

I've years of catching up to do , brb

Tarzana2 · 28-01-2015 8:38pm

castletownman wrote: »

Well done. Why the apparent condescending tone though?

I think you'd only detect condescension in that post if you were really looking for it.

tayto lover · 28-01-2015 8:43pm

roro1990 wrote: »

where did these recommended amounts come from? Not saying they're wrong but I sourced mine from http://www.yourdrinking.ie/about-alcohol/what-is-a-standard-drink/ Apparently we're supposed to have 17 standard drinks which according to this website equates to 8.5 pints. Naturally I rounded it up to 9 though

http://www.icap.org/Table/InternationalDrinkingGuidelines

nibtrix · 28-01-2015 9:46pm

snubbleste wrote: »

It's 3-4 litres of water per day isn't it?
Otherwise you can die from too much H2O

Actually it depends on your weight and activity level. Overweight people need more water.

There's various calculators for it out there - http://www.csgnetwork.com/humanh2owater.html

El Weirdo · 28-01-2015 9:48pm

nibtrix wrote: »

... Overweight people need more water. ...

But there's water in beer, right?

Right??!!

Eutow · 28-01-2015 9:51pm

El Weirdo wrote: »

But there's water in beer, right?

Right??!!

Yeah, so drinking beer contributes to our daily water intake.

Coffee as well.

Tombi! · 28-01-2015 10:11pm

Aren't they always guidelines?

I've known people who have drank liks a fish since they were in their '20s and never had issues from it and still drink like fish well into their '60s.

That being said: a lot of people drink too much. Just don't try to fool yourself about it and you're fine

28-01-2015 10:17pm

Somewhere between I Don't Drink And You Shouldn't Either and Non Drinkers Aren't To Be Trusted/Are Killjoys there is a happy medium, and that's probably in the region of the recommended guidelines.