Irish alcohol guidelines may change as HIQA consider new research
Kenneth Fox
Irish drinking guidelines could need to be changed.
The Health Information and Quality Authority says guidance on what constitutes low-risk alcohol consumption may need to be reconsidered due to the latest research available.
Right now, the HSE says low-risk drinking is fewer than 11 standard drinks for women and 17 standard drinks a week for men.
A standard unit is half a pint of beer, one small glass of wine, or one pub measure of spirits.
However, HIQA says there is now no strong basis for the gender-specific thresholds, and the difference in risk between men and women is minimal.
It maintains that there is a substantial amount of risk associated with even low levels of alcohol consumption.
It says Irish guidelines on what constitutes low-risk alcohol consumption may need to be reconsidered based on the latest research, and there is no risk-free level of alcohol consumption. How weekly drinks are consumed and over how many days is also important.
According to the report, between 2022 and 2024, alcohol was estimated to account for an average of 1,420 deaths per year, and 27,066 hospital admissions.
Hiqa said the estimated difference in risk between sexes was minimal, suggesting there is no strong basis for sex-specific thresholds.
The report states that the pattern of alcohol consumption also has an impact, with concentrated levels of drinking across fewer days of the week bringing a higher risk.
However, across both men and women, harm is not restricted to the heaviest drinkers. More than half of alcohol-attributable deaths occurred among the 90 per cent of drinkers with the lowest levels of consumption.
A “substantial amount” of risk occurred among people drinking lower levels of alcohol, indicating that Irish low-risk alcohol guidelines may need to be reconsidered to accurately highlight the risk at lower levels of alcohol consumption, the report said.
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