Drinkers Fuzzy About Units, Survey Reveals

A survey has revealed that an alarming 77% of people do not know how many units are in a glass of wine.

A new 'Units' campaign which aims to tell drinkers how many units of alcohol are in their beverages - and help them stick to their limits - has been launched today by Public Health Minister Dawn Primarolo.

Ms Primarolo said: "This campaign is all about helping people understand how many units are in their favourite drinks, and helping them to keep an eye on their intake for the good of their long-term health.

"Excessive alcohol consumption is proven to play a significant role in the development of numerous diseases, including several cancers, heart disease and stroke. That's why this campaign is so important to the public's health."

Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson commented: "It is important that people are aware of how much alcohol their drinks contain, and the associated links to health harm. I welcome this initiative for the sake of everyone's health, to improve understanding of units and encourage people to consider the effect that excess alcohol consumption has on their health."

New YouGov poll results also out today reveal that more than four out of five (82%) claim to know what a unit of alcohol is, yet 77% don't know how many units are in a typical large glass of wine.

The survey also showed that most women (64%) knew that their recommended daily guideline is two - three units - one unit being eight grams of pure alcohol - while just half of men questioned knew that their equivalent guidelines is three - four units a day.

More than half of adult drinkers in England drink alcohol at least two to three times a week, and one in 10 drinks every day.

According to Joe Korner of the Stroke Association there are around 1,100 haemorrhagic stroke deaths every year associated with alcohol and women who drink over double their recommended limits are more than four times likely to suffer a stroke.

This year, £6 million is being spent on the new units campaign.

In other news, in a bid to crackdown on underage drinking, a supermarket has introduced face recognition technology to deter underage drinkers.

The system is being piloted by Budgens supermarket in one of its London branches.

If it is successful it could be rolled out across the country to create a database of underage youngsters who try to buy alcohol.

(DS)