Drinkaware seeks to aid unit understanding

Drinkaware has embarked on a campaign to improve consumer understanding of alcoholic units, following a survey that showed a large proportion of UK adults cannot equate the term to actual drinks.

Although the survey also showed that 85% of adults were aware of the term and its implications, only 42% could properly identify how many units were contained in different drinks and how many the guidelines recommend.

Of the 4,000 adults interviewed for the research, 30% of women and 46% of men could correctly identify which drinks related to one unit of alcohol and only 29% of women and 32% of men could state the daily unit guidelines for their gender.

In response to this, Drinkaware posted 2.3 million unit and calorie calculators to households across the UK.

Drinkaware chief executive Chris Sorek said: “It’s great to see most people have heard of the term ‘alcohol units’, but we want to help them understand the unit equivalents of their favourite drinks and relate those to the recommended daily guidelines.

“Changing the UK’s drinking culture won’t happen overnight but providing consumers with useful tools such as the unit calculator can help them understand what a unit is and how many are in the nation’s most popular drinks.

“It’s important we challenge the norm of people unwittingly drinking to excess, whether that’s at home after a long day at work or out at a bar or restaurant. Knowing how the unit guidelines translate into everyday life, will make it easier for consumers to stick to them. The benefits of this will be felt not only by individuals – through better health and wellbeing – but also by wider society.”

Rupert Millar, 05.01.2011