Alcohol – A Part of Scottish Life
Alcohol has an important but complicated place in Scottish culture as part of people’s social lives and celebrations and also as part of the economy through industry and tourism. There are many positive things about drinking responsibly as part of social occasions.
More recently, there has been a lot of focus in the press, TV and radio on the issue of alcohol consumption and the problems it seems to cause. So what is the official advice?
Low Risk Alcohol Guidelines
In January 2016, all Chief Medical Officers (CMO’s) across the UK issued revised and agreed guidance on unit consumption in adults with the inclusion of specific advice for pregnant women. This advice is:
What Are Units?
Units are a standard way of measuring how much alcohol is in any alcoholic drink. 30 years ago, this was quite straightforward as there wasn’t as big a range of drinks on the market as there are today.
This table below tells you how many units are in common drinks.
Drink |
Units |
1 average cocktail |
3 units |
1 pint cider (5.4%) |
3 units |
1 large glass (12%) wine |
3 units |
1 small glass of fizz (12%) |
1.5 units |
1 pint beer/lager (5.4%) |
3 units |
1 standard pub measure spirits (25ml) |
1 unit |
Are You a Low Risk Drinker?
This table is a good guide but in order to work out how much alcohol you are drinking, you need to know the strength of the alcohol and the size of the measure. This can be difficult as we tend to pour more generous measures at home than you get in pubs and restaurants. But even in pubs and restaurants, large glasses of wine etc can have 3 or more units in them. Many people therefore greatly underestimate the amount of alcohol they are drinking. One drink does not equal 1 unit!
Consequences of Drinking Too Much
There are many risks associated with alcohol some of which are health related and others are more about the social impact. The health consequences include:
The social consequences of drinking too much alcohol include:
Lower Risk Drinking
Many people enjoy a good night out and drinking alcohol can be a part of that. To make sure that too much alcohol doesn’t ruin your night, there are a few things you can do:
Help & Support
If you think you are regularly drinking too much and would like to change your drinking habits, there are a few things you can do to help yourself:
There are a range of agencies which can provide information, advice, help and support to those who want to change their drinking habits, or to relatives who might be concerned about someone else’s drinking.
Find out about local services via our Health and Wellbeing Directory
NHS Inform provides information on drinking sensibly, knowing your limits and getting support for alcohol abuse.
If you think you have a more serious problem with alcohol, contact your GP who will link you into your local Community Addiction Team (CAT), Substance Misuse Team, Alcohol and Drugs Recovery Service or Addiction Service.
Resources