UK Government Advises There Is No Safe Limit for Alcohol

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. 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.