Alcohol & what it a unit

[japhrimel]

Alcohol in pregnancy was being discussed on another board I look at and it became clear that while most people were aware that 1, Government advice is don't drink any whilst pregnant and 2, the evidence suggests 1-2 units a week is safe, quite a few posters didn't know what a unit was and so were overdoing it!

I found this unit calculator tool and thought someone else might find it useful too if you decide to indulge with the odd drink:
www.drinkaware.co.uk/tips-and-tools/drink-diary/

a quick formula to work it out is -

amount drunk in mls X strength / 1000

ie. a third of a bottle of wine at 12% =
250 (ml) X 12 / 1000 = 3 units.

or a bottle of beer =
330 X 4.5 / 1000 = 2.2 units

since when did a bottle of wine have 9 units in it ? i thought a small glass of wine ie 125 ml was 1 unit hence a bottle at 750ml is 6 units ?

drink aware says there are 1.5 units in a 12% 125ml glass. Things have changed since 1/2 a beer or a small glass of wine was one unit. Thats the problem, i think we have got used to drinking so much more than our parents did. I never remember my parents drinking at home, but i used to all the time before this. Just bought some EISBERG. dread to think how awful it'll be but i am desperate!

Yep, and 9 units is an average bottle of white. Red has nearer 11 units a bottle. That formula is how they work out the number of units in drinks, I didn't just make it up!!

For the record, if its bottles of beer u are missing, I discovered Becks alcohol-free. It tastes close enough lile real beer to help with any beer cravings.

Most wine drunk in this country used to be only 8-9% -- which would make a 125mL glass about 1 unit. But in recent years we've got used to drinking heftier New World wines which have a much higher alcohol content, therefore more units per glass/bottle.

We were given a bottle of Australian red the other day that was 14.5% -- wine is classifed as sherry at 15!

Yep - New World wines can be pretty fierce, and wines across the board have gotten much stronger than they used to be. I've noticed a lot of australian white wines can often be 13% now, that seems pretty normal.

So a standard pub 'large' glass of white wine, which is often what bar staff are encouraged to offer, clocks in around 3 units, not one. Add 'home measures' to that, and the sum of 'one glass of wine = one unit' doesn't come near.

I'm not anti-booze by any stretch of the imagination! (and I have a soft spot for red wines over 14%, I think they taste fantastic) but I hate the idea that I don't know what I'm drinking.

I found this calculator very helpful - www.drinking.nhs.uk/questions/unit-calculator/ - esp cos it gives different strengths for wines.

"and I have a soft spot for red wines over 14%, I think they taste fantastic"

ooohhh me too -- can't wait till LO is born so I can have some!

yes - i miss wine soo much.

Ferocious red wine is high on my list of things to look forward to post-pregnancy (well, BF-ing also a complicating factor, but ONE DAY....). It's now a fantasy that comes complete with a winter landscape, roaring log fire, etc etc.

(I'm not being totally teetotal during pregnancy, I'm loving my small glass of weak cava every so often - I just think a whopping red is a bit much for me personally atm. And 2 units of it would barely fill an egg cup!)