healthmedicinet

It comes after Public Health England suggested that no-one should drink
alcohol two days running in order to minimise the risks to their health.

The current recommended guidelines say women should drink no more than one or
two units a day and men no more than three to four with two alcohol free
days a week.

However recent scientific research has suggested that drinking within these
limits could still be harmful, with memory problems in later life linked to
relatively low levels of alcohol consumption in middle age.

A voluntary agreement between the drinks industry and the Department of Health
already exists to put the number of units contained in the bottle and
warnings to pregnant women that drinking can harm their baby on 80 per cent
of labels by December last year.

However many feel this does not go far enough.

Tracey Crouch, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Alcohol
Misuse, said the labels were ‘tiny’ and needed to be more prominent.

She said: “At the moment any kind of information is very, very small on a
label and we just think it need so to be more prominent.

“If you think about labelling on food and tobacco products they are a lot
larger and at the moment we would like to increase the information on
alcohol.

“It should also include calorific information. One of the groups of
people we are seeing increase their alcohol consumption is
women,professional women but actually we know that women are very conscious
of calories so we think there needs to be more information about calories on
labels.”

Prof Mark Bellis, alcohol spokesman for the Faculty of Public Health, has
suggested warnings could include that alcohol increases the risk of cancer,
domestic violence and causes at least 15,000 deaths a year in the UK.

Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe, vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on
Alcohol Misuse, said: “After smoking, alcohol is the second biggest
preventable killer.

“Not only does it cost lives but burdens the NHS and the Criminal and
Justice systems and others with ever increasing costs.

“All the political parties know that but they run for cover when they are
confronted by the drinks industry and its immensely powerful lobby.

“These proposals give them another chance to consider whether they really have
the guts to take a different line for the country’s wellbeing in the future.”

Jackie Ballard, Chief Executive of Alcohol Concern, said: “Alcohol misuse
costs Britain £21 billion a year.

“We need urgent action to tackle this and the significant harmful effects
alcohol misuse causes to individuals.

“I hope all parties will read the manifesto and show a commitment to the
vital measures which it highlights.”

Dr Ram Moorthy, deputy chairman of the British Medical Association’s Board of
Science, said: “The All Parliamentary Group on Alcohol Misuse make a number
of sensible proposals for tackling the impact of excessive alcohol
consumption in the UK which are similar to those that the BMA has been
advocating for sometime.

“Each year, thousands of lives are ruined by the devastating impact of
alcohol misuse and precious NHS resources spent coping with its health
impacts.

“Introducing minimum alcohol pricing and tightening advertising controls would
be a serious step forward that would deter binge drinking.

“We cannot continue to ignore this serious challenge to the nation’s
wellbeing and need all politicians to take these proposals seriously.”

A Government spokesman said: “We are taking action to reduce excessive alcohol
consumption and to give people better information about the impact drinking
can have on your health.

“Through our Responsibility Deal the drinks industry has committed to putting
unit and health messages on 80 per cent of all bottles and cans. And we are
banning alcohol sales below the level of duty plus VAT to tackle the worst
cases of very cheap and harmful alcohol.”

Calories in alcohol:

A large glass of wine (250ml) with 13% ABV (alcohol by volume) = 228 calories
= Cornetto ice cream or two fish fingers.

A standard glass of wine (175ml) with 13% ABV = 160 calories = one slice of
Madeira cake.

Half a bottle of 13% ABV wine = 340 calories = one pain au chocolat pastry

A 275ml bottle of alcopop with 4% ABV = 171 calories = a hot chocolate with
whipped cream

A pint of ale or stout with 5% ABV = 250 calories = a bagel.

A pint of lager with 4% ABV =180 calories = one slice of pizza.

The average wine drinker in England consumes around 2,000 calories from
alcohol every month – one day’s worth of calories for a man

Drinking five pints of lager a week adds up to 44,200kcal over a year,
equivalent to eating 221 doughnuts.