Lots of people drink quite a bit for a long time and don't suffer from anything serious as a result
although (like smokers that live in their ninties) their health would be better if they drank less.

I only tell people (usually people who think govt. sponsored health campaigns/guidelines are like having people break in your house and stealing all of your booze instead of just being advice/guidance that you are free to ignore) to consider drinking less/not getting drunk so often (I love alcoholic drinks, but I rarely drink more than 7-8 units a week) because of the increased risks of something nasty happening as opposed to telling them that their drinking will kill them.
( custard, Fri 29 May 2009, 6:44, archived)

This is sound advice
But I rarely get drunk, in addition, I don't drink every day, but, if you were to take it over a week it certainly overhauls the guidelines by quite a bit...
( fagilliD Fuck I'm good!, Fri 29 May 2009, 6:56, archived)

you don't need to drink much every day to exceed more than 3-4 units a day (limit for blokes)
especially if you prefer wines and spirits to more watery drinks (I don't, so my couple of 500ml bottles of ale/beer every other evening or every third evening is enough for me).

That said, these limits are a bit abritrary; they only revised the limits (downwards) a few years back because they felt that they 'ought to' do it.

It's easy to identify really heavy drinking (people who regularly drink 40-50+ units a week usually end up in hospital long before anyone their age should), but nobody knows where the borderline between no adverse long-term health effects and some adverse long-term health effects is for a specific individual.

All anyone can do (and should do) is weigh up the risks, and don't do blatantly stupid things like drink heavily during pregnancy (= very high risk of foetal alcohol syndrome)
( custard, Fri 29 May 2009, 7:12, archived)