29-01-10 10:16

New NHS Campaign Reveals Unseen Alcohol Damage

A new campaign backed by major health charities will warn drinkers of the unseen health damage caused by regularly drinking more than the NHS advises.

The £6 million Government funded campaign shows the damage that is being done to drinkers’ organs while they are drinking in a pub or at home. 

This is being launched by Public Health Minister, Gillian Merron today and is part of the cross-Government strategy to tackle the harms that alcohol causes.

The Department of Health has developed the campaign in association with Cancer Research UK, the British Heart Foundation and the Stroke Association to create the series of stark TV, press and outdoor adverts showing the harm that regularly drinking more than two drinks a day can cause.

A new YouGov poll launched to coincide with the campaign shows that more than half (55%) of English drinkers misguidedly believe that alcohol only damages your health if you regularly get drunk or binge drink.

The survey of over 2,000 adults also found that 83% of those who regularly drink more than the NHS recommended limits of 2-3 units a day for women (about two small glasses of wine) and 3-4 units a day for men (about two pints of lager) don’t think their drinking is putting their long-term health at risk.

With 10 million adults in England estimated to be drinking above the recommended limits, this is equivalent to around 8.3 million people potentially unaware of the damage their drinking could be causing.

Although 86% of drinkers surveyed knew that drinking alcohol is related to liver disease, far fewer realised it is also linked with breast cancer (7%), throat cancer (25%), mouth cancer (28%), stroke (37%) and heart disease (56%), along with other serious conditions.

Scientific evidence shows:

• you could be three times more likely to have a stroke and three times more likely to get mouth cancer if you’re a man regularly drinking more than two pints of lager a day; and
• you are 50% more likely to get breast cancer and twice as likely to have high blood pressure, which could lead to a stroke or a heart attack, if you’re a woman regularly drinking two glasses of wine or more a day.

Read the full article at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/News/Recentstories/DH_111622