An increasing number of Irish women are being diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver in their 30s and 40s as a result of heavy drinking at a young age, consultant hepatologist at Cork University Hospital Dr Orla Crosbie warned in an opinion piece for The Irish Times yesterday.
Many of them are not dependent on alcohol, she said, and are unaware that the amount they are consuming is above the recommended limit of 11 standard drinks, or units, per week.
In Ireland, a standard drink contains 10 grams of pure alcohol, equal to a 35.5ml pub measure of spirits, a small 125ml glass of wine, a half pint of standard strength beer, or a 275ml bottle of alcopop. A bottle of 12.5 per cent proof wine contains about seven units of alcohol.
The recommended limit for men is 17 standard drinks per week. Consuming six or more in one sitting is considered binge drinking.
As an Alcohol Action Ireland conference on the changing nature of female alcohol consumption takes place in Dublin today, we want to find out how much you drank over the past week. Using the chart above, calculate the number of units you drank in the last seven days and take the survey. Were you surprised by the the number of units you consumed when you added them up? Let us know in the comments section below.
We'll publish the initial results on irishtimes.com tomorrow.
