At the Ideal Wine Company our passion for luxury bottles of wine from every corner of the world makes us regularly ask just how much a day we should be drinking. If events over the weekend prove to be accurate, it may be more than we’ve previously thought.
Considering the fact that cultural norms govern British dinking practises, and these norms suggest we drink at the vast majority of social occasions, this is a topic that is often hotly contested. Many people say that wine has health benefits, but detractors often offset these benefits against the harmful side effects of alcohol. So who’s right?
Current UK Alcohol Guidelines
There’s that old myth that’s been flying around for decades, if not centuries, that suggests that we should actually be drinking two glasses of red wine a day due to, among other things, its anti-oxidising effect. This is what a lot of people base their wine consumption on.
In fact current UK guidelines suggest that it’s different for men and women, and this is because physically men tend to be bigger than women. For men, it’s 3-4 units a day and for women, it’s 2-3 units a day.
So what does this mean for average daily wine consumption? Well it means that if you are drinking a standard 175ml glass of wine, if you are a woman, you can only have one a day, as one glass equals 2 units. For men, the uppermost limit is 2 glasses per day.
The thing here is though that these guidelines were brought out years ago, and experts are now suggesting that they’re not exactly accurate, and reflect a time where we knew less about wines effect on the human body.
A Bottle a Day
Believe it or not, retired Finnish professor, Kari Poikolainen released a report claiming that we Brits are far too modest, and that we should actually be drinking a bottle a day.
This may seem crazy, but the professor had a solid argument to back up his reports conclusion. He suggested that going teetotal is actually more harmful than drinking moderately, and that only after 13 units a day (more than a bottle) does it get to the point where you are damaging your health.
Whether this is true or not, we at the Ideal Wine Company can only speculate, but it does suggest that Britain may be living under false pretences concerning daily wine consumption limits. Maybe an extra glass of your favourite luxury bottle is good for you after all!
