Thanks for downloading this edition of more or less which was broadcast on the World Service.

If you're a regular subscriber to the podcast, you may have already heard this item which first appeared

on our Radio 4 programme.

We examined the evidence around the harms and benefits of alcohol.

Hello and welcome to more or less on the BBC World Service.

We're your weekly guide to the numbers that surround us in the news and in life, and I'm Tim Harford.

This week, how much alcohol can you drink and still be safe?

At what point does the alcohol become harmful?

These questions are ones that the UK government has been dealing with for over a year now,

and they've recently brought in new alcohol guidelines.

These guidelines recommend that both men and women should

drink no more than 14 units of alcohol each week.

Which is about six pints or three and a half liters of average strength beer or seven medium

size glasses of wine. Well thank you Charlotte I was going to get to that.

My pleasure and these guidelines have attracted attention partly because it's unusual for men and women to be given

the same limits for safe drinking.

Yes, most European countries have different limits for men and women.

In France, for instance, the guidelines are 26 units a week for men and in France for instance the guidelines are 26 units a week for men and 18 for women

the guidelines are the same in Ireland

26 for men

18 for women and until this new announcement

they used to be much the same in the UK too.

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