UK drinkers confused about alcohol units

A survey by Drinkaware amongst 4,000 British adults has revealed that only two in five adults understand how many alcohol units are in their drinks. The survey set out to establish how well people understand the system where one unit equals 10ml of pure alcohol, which takes roughly an hour to process through the body.

Encouragingly 85% have at least heard of ‘alcohol units,’ but only 42% can translate units to actual drinks. And less than a third of adults were able to correctly state the recommended daily unit guidelines for alcohol for their gender (men 3-4 units and women 2-3 units).

Chris Sorek, Drinkaware’s chief executive, said: “ Knowing how the unit guidelines translate into everyday life, will make it easier for consumers to stick to them.” The charity has posted 2.3 million unit and calorie calculators to households across the UK to promote understanding.