Units, units, units

How many times do we hear or read of the medical profession telling us we're drinking too much, and (poor, ignorant things) we don't know what a unit is, so our doctors never trust us when we tell them how many units we consume?

It would help if messages from the NHS were consistent (and accurate).

One form from Bedford hospital included the following text:



This displays complete ignorance of what a unit of alcohol is, and of the relative strength of drinks: a pub 'standard' wine glass is usually 175 ml (although bar staff are encouraged to get punters to 'go large' to 250ml), and most wine sold in supermarkets and pubs is around 11.5% alcohol these days. My primary school arithmetic gives

           0.175 x 11.5 = 2.0125    and 0.250 x 11.5 = 2.875

So the figure on this NHS form for the number of units in a glass of wine is only half what it should be!

(That for beer is better; a pint of 4% beer is just over 2 units - but many beers are stronger.)

Feeling that the figure for wine could be read by some as indicating that they are ok to drink 14 pub glasses of wine a week (the 14 unit recommendation), when in fact this would be close to 30 units, I contacted Bedford Hospital and pointed out how this form could confuse people.

I received the following reply:


It may well be that, in their particular case, the exact number of units is not entirely important - but shouldn't the NHS - which many of us believe to be one organisation - speak with one voice on health matters, and be accurate?