Alcohol - Australian Guidelines

The new National Guidelines for Alcohol Consumption was developed by the National Health and Medical Research Council to help reduce the risk of harm from alcohol.

What do the guidelines recommend?

The following guidelines can help an individual determine if their alcohol intake is harmful:

• Adult men and women - for healthy men and women, drinking no more than two standard drinks on any day reduces the lifetime risk of alcohol-related disease or injury. Drinking no more than four standard drinks on a single occasion reduces the risk of alcohol-related injury arising from that occasion. Everyone should have one or two days free of alcohol a week.
• Children and young people - the safest choice for young people under 18 years of age is not to drink at all. Young people under 15 years of age are at the greatest risk of harm from drinking and are advised not to drink alcohol. If older teenagers (over 15 years) do drink, it should be under adult supervision and within the adult guideline for low-risk drinking (two standard drinks in any one day).
• Pregnant and breastfeeding women - the safest choice is not to drink alcohol while pregnant or breastfeeding or if planning to become pregnant.
  

What is a standard drink?

In March 2009 the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia released its updated and revised Australian Guidelines to Reduce Health Risks from Drinking Alcohol. These guidelines are based on the concept of a standard drink.

A standard drink contains 10g of alcohol. However, the size of a 'standard' drink can vary according to the type of alcohol. The size of a drink served in some hotels, restaurants or even at home may be much bigger than a 'standard' drink. Understanding how to count standard drinks can help an individual to keep track of how much alcohol they consume.

One standard drink equals:

• 285ml or approximately one 'schooner' or 'pot' of regular beer (4.8% alcohol content)
• 375ml or one stubbie of mid-strength beer (3.5% alcohol content)
• 100ml or one small glass of table wine (13.5% alcohol content)
• 30ml of spirits plus mixer (40% alcohol content)

Cocktails can contain as much alcohol as five or six standard drinks, depending on the recipe.

For further information, click here.