Have you ever wondered what “low-risk drinking” actually means? Or felt unsure about how much alcohol can be consumed while still being considered lower risk?
Australia’s drinking guidelines provide advice about reducing the risk of harm from alcohol use. Understanding these recommendations, and what counts as a standard drink, can help you make informed decisions about how much alcohol you drink, if any.
What are Australia’s alcohol guidelines?
Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) low-risk drinking guidelines recommend healthy adults should drink no more than 10 standard drinks per week, and no more than four standard drinks on any one day.
These are guidelines for reducing harm, not a threshold below which drinking is risk-free. The less alcohol you drink, the lower your risk of harm.
The recommendations are different for some groups:
- People under 18: Not drinking alcohol is recommended to reduce the risk of injury and other alcohol-related harms, particularly those affecting the developing brain.
- People who are pregnant: Not drinking alcohol is recommended to prevent harm to the unborn baby.
