Although drinking moderate amounts of alcohol can have health benefits, such as prevention against coronary heart disease, for some people social drinking can lead to heavier drinking, which can cause serious health problems. It is estimated that 25% of men and 17% of women drink enough to put their health at risk. However, it is quite difficult to differentiate between alcoholism, alcohol abuse and alcohol problems; someone who abuses alcohol is not necessarily an alcoholic. Some of the tell-tale signs of alcoholism are the inability to choose when to start and stop drinking, and the damage of physical or mental health caused by persistent drinking.
Current guidelines recommend that men should drink no more than 3-4 units of alcohol a day, whilst women should have no more than 2-3 units. Unfortunately, there is a current trend for some people to 'save up' these units, and drink an entire weeks worth over one or two nights at the weekend. This is known as binge drinking.
In this section, you can learn more about the misuse of alcohol, along with information about its symptoms, means of diagnosis and method of treatment.
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