--- title: UK Government Advises There Is No Safe Limit for Alcohol description: The UK government has issued new guidelines on alcohol, saying any amount will increase the risk for cancer. canonical: https://time.com/4172600/uk-government-alcohol-guidelines/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-08T13:48:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:54:00.176Z article:section: Health og:title: UK Government Advises There Is No Safe Limit for Alcohol og:description: The UK government has issued new guidelines on alcohol, saying any amount will increase the risk for cancer. og:url: https://time.com/4172600/uk-government-alcohol-guidelines/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt153dff19a64602bc/69878156a988ca08316acb4a/time-50-healthiest-foods-red-wine-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: healthiest foods, health food, diet, nutrition, time.com stock, red wine, alcohol og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: UK Government Advises There Is No Safe Limit for Alcohol twitter:description: The UK government has issued new guidelines on alcohol, saying any amount will increase the risk for cancer. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt153dff19a64602bc/69878156a988ca08316acb4a/time-50-healthiest-foods-red-wine-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # UK Government Advises There Is No Safe Limit for Alcohol  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 8, 2016 1:48 PM CUT  Danny Kim for TIME  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 8, 2016 1:48 PM CUT The UK government has issued new guidelines on alcohol, saying any amount will increase the risk for cancer. The advice says people who drink regularly should not consume more than 14 units of alcohol a week, which is equivalent to six pints of beer or seven glasses of wine, [BBC reports](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35255384 "undefined"). This limit is for women and men, which is a break from previous advice which said men could safely drink more alcohol than women. The guidelines advise that pregnant women should not drink, and for people who do drink, some days should be kept alcohol-free. The government also cautions that any amount of alcohol can increase the risk for cancer; there is no safe drinking limit. The main shift in these new guidelines is in apportioning out units of alcohol by week rather than by day, to erase the assumption that drinking every day is considered alright, according to BBC. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4172600/uk-government-alcohol-guidelines/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4172600/uk-government-alcohol-guidelines/"},"headline":"UK Government Advises There Is No Safe Limit for Alcohol","datePublished":"2016-01-08T13:48:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:54:00.176Z","description":"The new advice is a radical change from previous guidance","url":"https://time.com/4172600/uk-government-alcohol-guidelines/","keywords":["Alcohol"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt153dff19a64602bc/69878156a988ca08316acb4a/time-50-healthiest-foods-red-wine-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt153dff19a64602bc/69878156a988ca08316acb4a/time-50-healthiest-foods-red-wine-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"healthiest foods, health food, diet, nutrition, time.com stock, red wine, alcohol","caption":"healthiest foods, health food, diet, nutrition, time.com stock, red wine, alcohol","creditText":"Danny Kim for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/alcohol/","name":"Alcohol"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4172600/uk-government-alcohol-guidelines/","name":"UK Government Advises There Is No Safe Limit for Alcohol"}}]}] ```