Don't drink on 3 days a week... As the liver crisis deepens, leading doctors warn of the dangers

  • More than 16,000 people die from liver disease every year in the UK
  • Young regular drinkers and middle-class women particularly at risk
  • Royal College of Physicians say current guidelines must be rewritten
By Daniel Martin
Last updated at 11:23 AM on 22nd October 2011

Drinkers should have three alcohol-free days a week if they want to avoid the risk of liver disease, warn Britain’s most eminent doctors.
Current official guidance on healthy drinking limits is ‘extremely dangerous’ and must be rewritten – because it implies that drinking every day is fine, the Royal College of Physicians said.
Government advice states men should drink no more than four units a day and women no more than three.
New guidelines: Leading doctors now say drinkers should have at least three alcohol-free days a week
New guidelines: Leading doctors now say drinkers should have at least three alcohol-free days a week
But this must also address the risks of daily drinking, doctors insisted.
They told MPs the risk of liver disease, alcohol dependence and serious illness increases if people drink every day rather than taking time off.
 

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They also urged Ministers to consider imposing stricter guidelines on pensioners – perhaps as little as seven units a week for older women and 11 for older men.
One unit is the equivalent of one small glass of wine (125ml) or half a pint of lager.
Government advice states men should drink no more than four units per day and women no more than three
Limits: Government advice states men should drink no more than four units per day and women no more than three
Older people’s bodies are more affected by regular drinking, which puts them at risk of dementia, depression and falls, they said.
Yet pensioners are currently given the same guidelines as all adults.
In their submission to MPs on the Commons science and technology committee, the doctors said: ‘Government guidelines should recognise that hazardous drinking has two components: frequency of drinking and amount of drinking. 
‘To ignore either of these components is scientifically unjustified.
‘A simple addition would remedy this – namely a recommendation that to remain within safe limits people have three alcohol-free days a week.’
They added: ‘The implied sanctioning of a pattern of regular daily drinking is potentially extremely dangerous.
The RCP disputes the claim that drinking every day will not accrue a significant health risk.
‘Frequency is an important risk factor for development of alcohol dependency and alcoholic liver disease.’
More than 16,000 people die from liver disease, usually caused by excessive drinking, every year in the UK.
It is Britain’s fifth biggest killer and the only major cause of death increasing year-on-year. Twice as many people die of it now than in 1991 and rates have soared by 13 per cent since 2005.
The British Liver Trust says liver disease is the biggest cause of premature death for women, and the second only to heart attacks for men.
The first drinking guidelines in 1987 – which were written by the RCP – stated that men should drink no more than 21 units a week and women no more than 14.
On top of this, everyone should take two or three days off a week. Doctors are angry that reforms to the advice in 1995 dropped this reference to alcohol-free days.
‘This in effect appeared to sanction daily or near-daily drinking, one of the key risk factors for alcohol-related harm and dependency,’ they said.
‘If the daily limit of four units was drunk with no drink-free days, this would be the equivalent of 28 units per week; a 30 per cent increase on the RCP’s guidelines.’
Habitual: Young regular drinkers are particularly at risk of developing liver disease alter in life
Habitual: Young regular drinkers are particularly at risk of developing liver disease later in life
The paper added: ‘Further studies have shown an increased risk of cirrhosis for those who drink daily or near-daily compared to those who drink periodically or intermittently.’
Young regular drinkers were particularly at risk, it said.
A 2009 study showed increases in UK liver deaths ‘are the result of daily or near-daily heavy drinking, not episodic or binge drinking. This regular drinking pattern is discernable at an early age’, the paper said.
Government experts expect the cost of treating people with liver disease will soar by 50 per cent in four years to more than £2billion.
Middle-class women are particularly at risk of daily drinking as they often have a glass or two of wine after work, followed by more at the weekend.
Lower limits should be considered for older people, as even modest levels of alcohol consumption can have a more profound effect on their bodies ‘due to physiological changes associated with ageing’, the paper said.
‘There is concern current guidelines are not appropriate for older people,’ it added.
Sir Ian Gilmore, RCP special adviser on alcohol, said: ‘We recommend a safe limit of 0-21 units a week for men and 0-14 units a week for women provided the total amount is not drunk in one or two bouts and that there are two to three alcohol-free days a week.
‘At these levels, most individuals are unlikely to come to harm.’
In June, a Royal College of Psychiatrists report called for a limit of 11 units a week for men aged over 65 and seven for women of this age.
The RCP quoted these suggested limits but did not explicitly endorse them.