Recommended maximum intake of alcoholic beverages

There is no global consensus on recommended maximum intake (or safe limits) of the drug alcohol. The guidelines provided by health agencies of governments are varied and are shown below. These recommendations concerning maximum intake are distinct from any legal restrictions (e.g. driving after consuming alcohol) that may apply in those countries. The American Heart Association recommends that those who do not already consume alcoholic beverages should not start doing so because of the negative long-term effects of alcohol consumption.

The guidelines are general guidelines applying to a typical person. However, there are some people who should not consume alcohol, or limit their use to less than guideline amounts. These are:

The standard guidelines may be too high when:

Countries express alcohol intake in units or standard drinks when recommending maximum alcohol intake. In increasing order of unit size a unit or standard drink is defined as:

The standard drink size is given in brackets.

Therefore, these countries recommend limits for men in the range 20–40 g per day.

These countries recommend a weekly limit, but intake on a particular day may be higher than one-seventh of the weekly amount.

Therefore, these countries recommend limits for men in the range 27.2–32 g of ethanol per day and 168–210 g of ethanol per week.

Women trying to become pregnant should look at the guidelines for pregnant women given in the next section.

Therefore, these countries recommend limits for women in the range 10–30 g per day.

These countries recommend a weekly limit, but your intake on a particular day may be higher than one-seventh of the weekly amount.

Therefore, these countries recommend limits for women in the range 14–27.2 g per day and 98–140 g per week.

Excessive drinking in pregnancy is the cause of Fetal alcohol syndrome (BE: foetal alcohol syndrome), especially in the first eight to twelve weeks of pregnancy. Therefore, pregnant women receive special advice. It is not known whether there is a safe minimum amount of alcohol consumption, although low levels of drinking are not known to be harmful. As there may be some weeks between conception and confirmation of pregnancy, most countries recommend that women trying to become pregnant should follow the guidelines for pregnant women.

In short, all countries listed above now recommend that women abstain from alcohol consumption if they are pregnant or likely to become pregnant.

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