Safe Booze Level

[om15]

Most of us in aviation have periodically boozed too much, part of the job and lifestyle. Former servicemen were trained to drink six pints of lager every evening except weekends, when this had to increase to double figures.
The habit is soon acquired and difficult to shake off. I drink mainly beer with red wine with meals at the weekend, self imposed no drink ban during the week. I had to honestly record my units this week, which I calculated to be 25 to 30 units a week. (one pint equals two units or slightly more if around 5% ABV).

My new dentist is a very pleasant young lady of about 16 years of age, she is a Doctor and has much of the alphabet after her name, she gravely told me that I shouldn't exceed 14 units per week as the resulting destruction of my health and well being would make my teeth fall out. I have a dental rectification programme in place with her costing over sixteen hundred quid so I wish to avoid this consequence.
My question to this panel of experts is, do you exceed 14 units per week, and is it possible for life to be worth living at this level of intake?

[4mastacker]

Never mind the 14 units a week malarkey, yer life wont be worth living if yer missus doesn't believe that you paid 1600 quid to a nice young lady to stop yer teeth falling out.

[Smeagol]

self imposed no drink ban during the week

Do you mean that you do not drink during the week and then consume 25 to 30 units at the weekend? If so then I would say that is verging on 'binge drinking', which is certainly not particularly healthy. Better to spread it over the whole week.......or cut down a bit on the week-end!

But to answer your question, I probably consume 15 - 20 units per week spread over all seven days (usually) and, yes, I do find life worth living

[Rwy in Sight]

I have the 14 units per week and I follow it fairly tight. As I have said before inspired by some other members I have a dry month a year generally at the beginning of the year.

[Boac]

om- I think she is pulling your plonker (mind you, 'a very pleasant young lady of about 16 years of age' - you lucky devil.... - can I sign up? ). I was once set up by Mrs and the hygienist who said I had significant receding gums and asked me if I drank Whisky because it could be a problem. Did I walk into that one.....

[ExSp33db1rd]

See the other thread ! #19

Do we drink for the taste, or the effect ?

It's a long time since I felt that I had drunk too much, but when thirsty, or being social, I prefer the taste of a decent beer to water, coke, etc, and would be happy with a decent non-alcoholic beer, so that I could quaff more of it to quench the thirst, or hang around longer . Already started a thread a few weeks ago about how I can't find a really nice tasting zero alc. beer.

Never became addicted, but .... walking New York with a fellow crew member one morning, we decided to " pop in" for just one early lunchtime beer, to help the afternoon sleep prior to an early evening departure. Unfortunately we picked a popular "crew watering hole" and met many friends, and the rounds kept flowing until... Christ, it's 3 o'clock! We dashed back to the hotel consuming as many black coffees as we could manage from the various fast food joints that we passed, slept fitfully until call time, and sat at the back of the bus away from the rest of the crew. My mate was the Nav, on that sector home, so he sat at the back of the flight deck, raised the light obscuring curtain, and .... donned the oxygen mask ! I had to sit in the right hand seat and keep as quiet as I could, fortunately the Captain was one of the "old" North Atlantic Barons, who never spoke to lesser mortals anyway, so that helped. I managed to chant the checklists and talk to ATC without disaster, but as we lined up on the runway the Captain leaned over and pushed the Flight Director control switch towards me and said " You have control". Christ ! I Managed to hand fly to the first cleared altitude without too much distress, then engaged the auto-pilot and picked up the Flt. Log - which the "older Captains never touched" to fill in the details to date. The Captain quietly looked across at me and said " You won't do that again, will you ? " He knew. Lesson learned.

[boing]

Flew with a Captain once, hugely impressive individual, tall, broad shouldered with a booming voice. Unfortunately when London fogged in we ended up diverting to some place that did not have much long-range international traffic. As we went through customs with the Captain in the lead the custom's officer asked the Captain if he had any booze. "A bottle of Scotch with a couple of shots left" was the reply. The custom's officer should have had more sense but he asked the Captain to produce the bottle. The bottle appeared being about 3/4 full. By this time everyone in the queue was listening to the conversation. The custom's officer declares that the bottle contained much more than a couple of shots, tense silence in the queue as the showdown approached.
"It appears that you are very miserly with you Scotch young man" boomed the Captain. Whole custom's line erupts in laughter and the flummoxed custom's officer waved the Captain through.

.

[Slasher]

I have the 14 units per week

Could someone definite please what a unit is in this regard? Is it a nip, glass, tinny, bottle, or bucket?

[Ex-Ascot]

Capt, as I understand it a unit is a case of beer or a bottle of spirits. Just having my breakfast beer. Dry month starts Monday after our guests have left.

[Slasher]

Thanks sah. I have 3 full glassses of 'shine per day which is about 3/4 of a bottle on average. So every 4 days I consume 3 units, or over a month slightly over 12 units.

This is not including the odd beer at social gatherings (so far about 5 units since returning home).

[Cacophonix]

Talking about "a unit" with my doctor revealed that it is a wholly contrived and basically unscientific measure, dreamed up, like some measures and most statistics, almost on the spot by some well meaning government committee. That is not to say it is not useful as a putative measure of the amount of drinking a person does, but it makes no allowance for the differing amounts of damage drinking does to different organs in different people with different genes at different times and states of health in their lives. It is essentially unscientific and a convenient rule of thumb.

For somebody with cirrhosis of the liver, often undiagnosed, even one unit can be fatal whereas other people might be able to tolerate 14 units per week for years with no obvious I'll effects, but belying that fact is the truth that drinking is still damaging at so many levels and taken over a lifetime the bad effect is cumulative even after allowing for the liver which can regenerate itself until it is too damaged to do so.

That is not to say that for some people who drink in moderation that there are not some benefits. There are, but this article overeggs the cake methinks, even while it makes some excellent points about the unscientific basis of government guidelines.

https://health.spectator.co.uk/the-grea ... -drinking/

Caco

[om15]

Slasher, this is a summary from wikki, what ABV do you think your brew is ?

Quantities
It is sometimes misleadingly stated that there is one unit per half-pint of beer, or small glass of wine, or single measure of spirits. However, such statements do not take into account the various strengths and volumes supplied in practice.

For example, the ABV of beer typically varies from 3.5% to 5.5%. A typical "medium" glass of wine with 175 ml at 12% ABV has 2.1 units. And spirits, although typically 35–40% ABV, have single measures of 25 ml or 35 ml (so 1 or 1.4 units) depending on location.

The misleading nature of "one unit per half-pint of beer, or small glass of wine, or single measure of spirits" can lead to people underestimating their alcohol intake.

Beers
Half an imperial pint (284 ml) of beer with 3.5% ABV contains almost exactly one unit; however, most beers are stronger. In pubs in the United Kingdom, beers generally range from 3.5–5.5% ABV, and continental lagers start at around 4% ABV. An imperial pint of such lager (e.g., 568 ml at 5.2%) contains almost 3 units of alcohol[12] rather than the oft-quoted 2 units.
Stronger beer (6–12%) may contain 2 units or more per half pint (imperial).
A half litre (500 ml) of standard lager or ale (5%) contains 2.5 units.
One litre (1000 ml) of typical Oktoberfest beer (5.5–6%) contains 5.5–6 units of alcohol.

Wines
A medium glass (175 ml) of 12% ABV wine contains around two units of alcohol. However, British pubs and restaurants often supply larger quantities (large glass ≈ 250 ml), which contain 3 units. Red wines often have a higher alcohol content (on average 12.5%, sometimes up to 16%).
Wine sold by the glass is often served in nearly full glasses. Wine served at home, or when bought by the bottle in, say, a restaurant, is usually served in glasses less than half filled; the capacity of a wine glass is not the only criterion for judging quantity.
A 750 ml bottle of 12% ABV wine contains 9 units; 16% ABV wine contains 12 units; a fortified wine such as port at 20% ABV contains 15 units.

Fortified wines
A small glass (50 ml) of sherry, fortified wine, or cream liqueur (≈20% ABV) contains about one unit.

Spirits
Most spirits sold in the United Kingdom have 40% ABV or slightly less. In England, a single pub measure (25 ml) of a spirit contains one unit. However, a larger 35 ml measure is increasingly used (and in particular is standard in Northern Ireland [13]), which contains 1.4 units of alcohol at 40% ABV. Sellers of spirits by the glass must state the capacity of their standard measure in ml.
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quote]

I will try a month off, (but not this month) I dislike sugary soft drinks, is alcohol free beer any good? I can't think that any of the pubs that I visit would stock such stuff. Meantime I will experiment and see if a genuine intake of 14 units per week can sustain life.

[Slasher]

Since Gulf Rotgut isn't mentioned mate I'd have to go with Spirits.

[Capetonian]

Someone sent me a link to a 'survey' which I completed as best I could, given the variances and unknowns pointed out by om15.

I have a drink on average 4 or 5 days a week. I never 'binge', the most I'll drink in a day is 3-4 beers, or 2-3 glasses of red wine, and that is really pushing the boat out for me. Occasionally I'll have a tot of whisky or a liqueur.
On a typical day I usually drink a beer or a glass of wine with my evening meal, I rarely drink at lunchtime.
According to the survey I drink more than 75% of men of my age and drinking is risking my health.

What a load of bollocks.

[Ibbie]

Units quoted in the UK are a movable feast/gulp.
The amount of alcohol that constituted a unit was changed (reduced) several years back.
Can recall going into emergency department at Wythenshawe Hospital on day it changed, when staff were taking down the old posters displaying the old units per drink information and replacing them with the new.
It has been a load of bollocks to me ever since.

A unit in the UK is equivalent to 8g of pure alcohol. This means British men are now being told they should drink considerably less than those in Ireland (21.2 British units), Denmark (21), New Zealand (19) and much less than the recommended upper limit for men in Spain (35). (per The Guardian)

[om15]

Is this introduction of arbitrary new low unit figures simply a way to try to reduce the average intake of booze to attempt to off load NHS costs. Severe drinking does cost the NHS a packet, think of A&E costs, liver transplants and so on. The SNP have addressed this with minimum booze prices, I see that beer sold in lydl has two prices, one for England and one for Scotland.
There is no doubt that severe boozing is bad in many ways, but a weekly 14 units does seem a miserably low target.

Should I move to Spain in order to become compliant.

[ian16th]

Having reached an age that I wasn't expected to reach, I plan to enjoy every day.

If 'enjoying' means having a drink, so be it.

SWMBO is doing a steak & kidney pie, so I've opened a bottle of

kleine merlot.jpg (10.74 KiB) Viewed 502 times

If the pie isn't ready soon, I'll have to open another one.

[Cacophonix]

Having reached an age that I wasn't expected to reach, I plan to enjoy every day.

If 'enjoying' means having a drink, so be it.

A good wine ian16th and a perfect complement to a steak and kidney pie. Bon appetit!


Caco

[OFSO]

The recommended limit for Spain explains a great deal about Spain's disfunctional society.

[larsssnowpharter]

One has never calculated one's consumption but it is fair to say that I do lie to my doc when I have a check up.

After some 10 years plus in Italy, I went for the Mediterranean diet and assumed that this should include the alcohol intake

But, generally, at least a half bottle with dinner preceded by an apperitivo and followed by a digestivo. Perhaps a brandy before bed.

Still recall Italian F104 pilots having a couple of glasses of wine in the mess before an afternoon trip. Seemed normal to them.

One notices that, in the UK, the recommended maximum levels for men and women are the same but that this is not the case in other European countries. Is this a PC thing?