Drinking too much alcohol can cause liver damage and lead to heart conditions in later life. But if you stick to the recommended daily limits, the odd tipple now and then is fine.

Know your limits

The recommended daily limits are 2 units of alcohol a day for women and 3 units for men.

1 unit = 1 glass (100ml) of wine, 1 measure (25mls) of spirits or half a pint of beer

Drink	Units
1 measure (25mls) of spirits	1 UNIT
A pint of standard strength beer (4% ABV) = 2 UNITS	2 UNITS
A small glass of wine (9% ABV, but most wines are 11 or 12% ABV)	1 UNIT
A 330 ml bottle of alcopop (5% ABV)	1.7 UNITS

 
To work out how many units there are in bottle/can of drink:

The %ABV x the quantity of millilitres
-----------------------------------------------------
1000

So a 330ml bottle of lager at 5% ABV can be worked out as:

5 x 330 = 1650
1650 ÷ 1000 = 1.65

So the bottle contains about 1.65 units of alcohol, which is more than half of a man's daily allowance and 82.5% of a woman's daily allowance. So it's fine to enjoy a drink, but it has to be in moderation.