Alcohol 

Alcohol consumption is a significant cause of disease and death in Australia, and not just from excessive alcohol use. 

Alcohol use is a cause of cancer. It is not just heavy drinking that increases cancer risk. Even drinking small amounts of alcohol increases the risk of cancer.  The more you drink the greater the risk, and there is no evidence of a protective effect for cancer. Cancer risk is the same for all types of alcohol (beer, wine and spirits).

What should I do?

We recommend that people limit or avoid drinking alcohol.
For people who do drink alcohol, we recommend sticking to the NHMRC guidelines:

• No more than 2 standard drinks a day for men
• No more than 2 standard drinks a day for women

What is a standard drink?

In Australia, one standard drink is any drink that contains 10 grams of alcohol. In Australia, all bottles, cans and casks containing beverage alcohol are required by law to state on the label the approximate number of standard drinks they contain.

It can sometimes be difficult to estimate standard drinks in real life situations:

• Glass sizes vary
• People share larger containers (jugs, casks, flagons)
• Glasses are topped up by another person
• Composition of mixed drinks is not known (cocktails or punch)