Pumping Marvellous

Interesting post on Alcohol

I was in Lloyds Pharmacy this afternoon picking up my bucket load of drugs and I picked up a really useful device and instantly thought of Pumping Marvellous readers.

I am sure Lloyds will love me for this but it is a little invention produced by the East Lancs PCT, now I am sure this has been out for a long time but I was really impressed with it.

Now I don’t really drink alcohol so I am probably not the best person to comment on this but here goes.

It is a black wheel looking thing which tells you the units per drink and the calories per drink. There are a set of measures so if you can’t get your hands on one of these then here goes –

Regular Cider 5%ABV – 1 pint (568ml) – 2.8 units and 250 calories
Strong Cider 7.5%ABV – 275ml bottle – 2.1 units and 99 calories
Guinness 4.1%ABV – 1 pint (568ml) – 2.4 units and 210 calories
Port 20%ABV – 50ml glass – 1 unit and 78 calories
Sherry 17.5%ABV – 50ml glass – 0.9 units an 77 calories
Alcopop/Ready to Drink 5%ABV- 275ml bottle – 1.4 units and 200 calories
Standard Beer/Bitter 3.6%ABV – 1 pint (568ml) – 2 units and 182 calories
Standard Lager 4%ABV – 1 pint (568ml) – 2.3 units and 200 calories
Premium Beer / Lager 5%ABV – 330ml bottle – 1.7 units and 142 calories
Premium Beer / Lager 5%ABV – 1 pint (568ml) – 2.8 units and 244 calories
Super Strength Lager 9%ABV – 440ml can – 4 units and 250 calories
Whiskey/Bourbon/Brandy 40%ABV – 35ml measure – 1.4 units and 78 calories
Gin/Vodka/Rum 37.5%ABV – 35ml measure – 1.3 units and 72 calories
Wine/Champagne 12%ABV – 750ml bottle – 9 units and 555 calories
Wine/Champagne 12%ABV – 125ml glass – 2.1 units and 133 calories

Hopefully this will make you think twice about consuming alcohol.

Your Daily Allowance

In the UK the department of health recommends that an adult man does not drink more than 3-4 units of alcohol and an adult woman 2-3 units of alcohol as a maximum in any one day.

Don’t drink at all or drink within safe limits

For most people, a glass of wine or a pint of normal-strength beer a day does no harm (and may even do some good) but drinking above that level increases blood pressure, which can lead to heart failure.
Alcohol is measured in units therefore a pint of typical strength bitter (about 4% alcohol) contains two to three units, and a glass of wine can contain anything from 1.5 to more than three units, depending on the strength of the wine and size of the glass. Men who regularly drink more than three to four units of alcohol a day, and women who regularly drink more than two to three units a day are likely to be damaging their health. Heavy drinking over a number of years can damage heart muscle, and lead directly to heart failure, as well as having many other harmful effects on your health. It also causes weight gain because of the calories in alcohol.
Binge drinking is particularly likely to increase blood pressure and increase the risk of heart failure. The alcohol intake that amounts to binge drinking may well be lower than you think, and reflects the levels of heavy drinking in a single night that start to seriously affect health. For a man, binge drinking is more than eight units in a night (about three pints of beer with 5% alcohol), while for a woman, it is about six units in a night (three standard or two large glasses of wine).