Warning: Don’t touch alcohol on two days a week

BRITONS will be told to slash their drinking next week under the biggest shake-up of alcohol guidelines in 30 years.

England’s Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies will urge the public to take at least two days off a week to give their livers a rest.

She is also expected to lower the recommended daily limit for men to three units – equivalent to one and a half pints of beer – bringing it in line with the advised maximum for women.

Experts say it makes no sense having separate male and female guidelines when people react differently to alcohol regardless of their sex.

Crucially, the recommendations will make it very clear there is no ‘safe’ alcohol limit and that even small to moderate amounts may increase the risk of cancer and other illnesses.

The guidelines will be announced at the end of next week, coinciding with millions of adults embarking on healthy New Year resolutions.

Many will have pledged to cut back on the booze after Christmas, or even to abstain completely for a ‘dry January’.

Dame Sally was asked to draw up guidelines in 2012 after a report warned current guidelines were too lenient and confusing. Ministers agreed she would lead a joint review with the Chief Medical Officers for Scotland and Wales.

The existing guidelines were drawn up by the Government in 1987. Since then, evidence has emerged that even one or two drinks a day can greatly increase the risk of some cancers. The advice currently states that women should have no more than 14 units a week and men 21 units.

One unit is roughly equivalent to half a glass of wine, or half a pint of beer.

The guidance was tweaked in 1995 to give daily limits of up to three units for women and four for men.

Seven days of these add up to more than the respective weekly limits – implying that a couple of days off are needed. But experts believe this is not clear and gives the public an unsafe licence to drink every day. Research shows that only one glass of wine a day raises a woman’s risk of breast cancer by 13 per cent. Drinking moderately every day also damages the liver and Britain has the second highest death rate from liver disease in Europe.

The new guidance will specifically tell adults to have two or more alcohol-free days each week – ideally consecutively – to allow their bodies to recover. There is growing evidence that abstention can help heal the liver, lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and prevent long-term illness.

A study by London’s Royal Free Hospital, to be published soon, is expected to show a month without alcohol is as effective as a breakthrough drug. Pregnant women will be told not to have any

‘Liver needs time

to replenish’

alcohol amid concerns existing advice risks causing harm to unborn babies by implying it is safe for expectant mothers to drink four units a week.

Although average consumption in Britain has fallen over the past decade, officials are concerned it remains stubbornly high among certain groups, including high-earning career women, and the well-off middle-aged.

The British Liver Trust’s Andrew Langford said: ‘There needs to be a clear statement about taking two to three days off a week. The liver needs a certain number of hours to be able to clean itself and replenish.’

Alison Cox, of Cancer Research UK, said: ‘Even light drinking increases the risk of some cancers.’