Tuesday 8 March 2011

2.8% - the health case


My doctor knows what's best for me and he reckons 28 units of alcohol, spread evenly over a week, is about right.

A unit of alcohol is defined as 10 millilitres of ethanol in the UK*.

Our 2.8% beer contains 2.8% alcohol by volume, meaning that in 1 litre (1000 ml) I have 28 ml of the evil stuff. Since 10 ml constitutes a unit I have 2.8 units. That's easy, isn't it? And I'm allowed 28 per week, which is fully 10 whole litres.

10 litres = 2.2 gallons.

2.2 gallons = 17.6 pints.

That, spookily enough, works out at 2.5 pints per day. My regular 'go to' beer is 4.4%, and I'm only allowed 1.6 pints of that per day.

But I'm lucky, I drink beer. It's much lower in alcohol than the alternatives of cider (average 5.03%), wine (12.58%) and spirits (40%). Here's a picture illustrating how much of each you and I are allowed to sup in a day - a measure of safety, if you like.

It's a no brainer isn't it?

*The Aussies get more, they're allowed 12.5 and that can't be fair, can it? It sounds random to me.

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