Unit of alcohol
Encyclopedia
Ethanol
Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs. Best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, it is also used in thermometers, as a...
in an alcoholic beverage
Alcoholic beverage
An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...
. Such units are used in some countries as
a guideline for a drinker's alcohol consumption.
One unit of alcohol is defined as 10 millilitres
Litre
pic|200px|right|thumb|One litre is equivalent to this cubeEach side is 10 cm1 litre water = 1 kilogram water The litre is a metric system unit of volume equal to 1 cubic decimetre , to 1,000 cubic centimetres , and to 1/1,000 cubic metre...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and as 10 gram
Gram
The gram is a metric system unit of mass....
s (12.7 ml) in Australia. In both countries, a so-called standard drink
Standard drink
A standard drink is a notional drink that contains a specified amount of pure alcohol. The standard drink is used in many countries to quantify alcohol intake. It is usually re-expressed as a measure of beer, wine, or spirits for convenience. One standard drink always contains the same amount of...
contains one unit of alcohol (according to the country's own definition). The definition of a "standard drink" varies significantly in other countries.
In the United Kingdom, the number of units contained in a typical serving of an alcoholic beverage is publicised and printed on bottles.
In one hour, an average healthy adult can metabolize
Metabolism
Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in the cells of living organisms to sustain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories...
about 75% of an Australian unit of alcohol or 95% of a United Kingdom unit.
Formulae
The number of UK units of alcohol in a drink can be determined by multiplying the volume of the drink (in millilitres) by its percentage ABVAlcohol by volume
Alcohol by volume is a standard measure of how much alcohol is contained in an alcoholic beverage .The ABV standard is used worldwide....
, and dividing by 1000. Thus, one pint
Pint
The pint is a unit of volume or capacity that was once used across much of Europe with values varying from state to state from less than half a litre to over one litre. Within continental Europe, the pint was replaced with the metric system during the nineteenth century...
(568 ml) of beer at 4% ABV contains:
The formula uses the quantity in millilitres divided by 1000; this has the result of there being exactly one unit per percentage point per litre of any alcoholic beverage.
You can also think of 4% as being
Hence .04 X 568 mL gives the amount of alcohol in mL, which you then dived by 10 to show the number of units.When the volume of an alcoholic drinks is shown in centilitres, determining the number of units in a drink is as simple as multiplying volume by percentage (converted into a fraction of 1). Thus 75 centilitres of wine (the contents of a standard wine bottle) at 12 % ABV
ABV
ABV is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* Alcohol by volume, a measure of the alcohol content of alcoholic drinks* Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Nigeria, from its IATA airport code...
contain:
Quantities
It is often stated that a unit of alcohol is supplied by a small glass of wine, half a pint of beer, or a single measure of spirits. Such statements may be misleading because they do not reflect differences in strength of the various kinds of wines, beers, and spirits.Beers
- A half pint (284 ml) of beerBeerBeer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
that has a strength of 3.5% abv contains almost exactly one unit. However, most beers are stronger. In pubs, beers generally range from 3.5% to 5.5% abv with continental lagers starting at around 5% abv. A pint of such lager (568 ml at 5.2% for example) is almost 3 units of alcohol, rather than the often-quoted value of 2 units per pint. - A 500 ml can/bottle of standard lagerLagerLager is a type of beer made from malted barley that is brewed and stored at low temperatures. There are many types of lager; pale lager is the most widely-consumed and commercially available style of beer in the world; Pilsner, Bock, Dortmunder Export and Märzen are all styles of lager...
(5%) contains 2.5 units. - 'Super-strength' or strong pale lagerPale lagerPale lager is a very pale to golden-coloured beer with a well attenuated body and a varying degree of noble hop bitterness. The brewing process for this beer developed in the mid 19th century when Gabriel Sedlmayr took pale ale brewing techniques back to the Spaten Brewery in Germany and applied it...
may contain as much as two units per half pint. - One litre of typical OktoberfestOktoberfestOktoberfest, or Wiesn, is a 16–18 day beer festival held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, running from late September to the first weekend in October. It is one of the most famous events in Germany and is the world's largest fair, with more than 5 million people attending every year. The...
beer (5.5% to 6%) contains 5.5 to 6 units of alcohol.
Wines
- A medium glass (175 ml) of 12% abv wineWineWine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
contains around two units of alcohol. However, British pubs and restaurants often supply larger quantities (large glass: 250 ml) which contain 3 units. Red wine might have a higher alcohol content (on average 12.5%, sometimes up to 16%). - A 750 ml bottle of 12% abv wine contains 9 units. Some port winePort winePort wine is a Portuguese fortified wine produced exclusively in the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. It is typically a sweet, red wine, often served as a dessert wine, and comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties...
s may contain 20% abv or more, which is 15 units of alcohol per bottle. - A 750 ml bottle of 14.5% abv wine contains 10.88 units.
Fortified wines
- A small glass (50 ml) of sherrySherrySherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the town of Jerez , Spain. In Spanish, it is called vino de Jerez....
, fortified wineFortified wineFortified wine is wine to which a distilled beverage has been added. Fortified wine is distinguished from spirits made from wine in that spirits are produced by means of distillation, while fortified wine is simply wine that has had a spirit added to it...
, or cream liqueur (approx. 20% abv) contains about one unit.
Spirits
- Most spiritsDistilled beverageA distilled beverage, liquor, or spirit is an alcoholic beverage containing ethanol that is produced by distilling ethanol produced by means of fermenting grain, fruit, or vegetables...
sold in the United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
have 40% ABV or slightly less. In Great BritainGreat BritainGreat Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, a single pub measure (25 ml) of a spirit contains one unit.
- However, a larger 35ml measure is increasingly used (and in particular is standard in Northern IrelandNorthern IrelandNorthern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
), which contains 1.4 units of alcohol.
Alcopops
- Most alcopops contain 1.4 to 1.5 units per bottle. For example, a regular 275ml bottle of WKDWKD Original VodkaWKD Original Vodka is a brand of alcopop produced by Beverage Brands. It is sold and heavily marketed in the United Kingdom with the slogan ‘Have you got a WKD side?’ , and also in many countries in mainland Europe. AC Nielsen ranked it as the number-one UK ready-to-drink brand in 2006.-Product...
contains 1.4 units, whereas Bacardi BreezerBacardi BreezerBacardi Breezer, Breezer for short, is a rum-based alcopop with 4% alcohol It comes in a variety of fruit flavours: lemon, peach, pineapple, apple, ruby grapefruit, lime, orange, blackberry, watermelon, cranberry, coconut, raspberry, blueberry, pomegranate and mango...
and Smirnoff Ice both contain 1.5 units of alcohol.
Limits
Since 1995 the UK government has advised that regular consumption of 3–4 units a day for men, or 2–3 units a day for women, would not pose significant health risks, but that consistently drinking four or more units a day (men), or three or more units a day (women), is not advisable.Previously (from 1992 until 1995), the advice was that men should drink no more than 21 units per week, and women no more than 14. (The difference between the sexes was due to the typically lower weight and water-to-body-mass ratio of women.) This was changed because a government study showed that many people were in effect "saving up" their units and using them at the end of the week, a phenomenon referred to as binge drinking
Binge drinking
Binge drinking or heavy episodic drinking is the modern epithet for drinking alcoholic beverages with the primary intention of becoming intoxicated by heavy consumption of alcohol over a short period of time. It is a kind of purposeful drinking style that is popular in several countries worldwide,...
. The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
reported in October 2007 that these limits had been "plucked out of the air" and had no scientific basis.
An international study of almost 6,000 men and 11,000 women found that persons who reported that they drank more than 2 units of alcohol a day had an increased risk of fractures compared to non-drinkers. For example, those who drank over 3 units a day had nearly twice the risk of a hip fracture.