Alcohol Units

Research in Hull discovered there was a general lack of understanding of alcohol units, with comments such as “I find the word ‘unit’ very confusing” and most people agreed that they did not understand them.

Do you know what a unit of alcohol is?

Alcohol units are a way to determine how strong a drink is. One unit is 10ml or 8g of pure alcohol. Because alcoholic drinks come in different strengths and sizes, units are a way to tell how strong a drink is. This is especially useful for people who want to monitor their drinking.

The image below gives examples of one unit of alcohol in a variety of popular drinks.

All alcoholic drinks sold within the UK should display details of the quantity of units contained within them. This information is typically documented within a silhouette of a bottle printed on the label and is helpful when trying to monitor drinking or keeping a drink diary.