Daily limits on alcohol consumption are meaningless and potentially harmful, experts have warned.

专家警告道，每日限量饮酒是无意义并且有潜在危害的。

The units in a glass of wine can range from 1.5 to over 3

The government says men should drink no more than three to four units per day and women no more than two to three.

Liver specialist Dr Nick Sheron, of the Alcohol Health Alliance UK, says these limits were devised（设计） by civil servants with "no good evidence" for doing so.

He says the advice runs the risk of people taking it to mean that it is safe to drink alcohol every day.

Dr Sheron's comments follow a report by MPs on the Public Accounts Committee which suggested public confusion about safe drinking levels was fuelling problem drinking.

Dr Sheron says we should go back to using the old weekly limits, which are based on sound research.

The 1987 sensible drinking limits, which set the bar at 21 units per week for men and 14 units per week for women, remained in place until 1995.

Sensible drinking

It was then that the government decided¹ to switch the limits from weekly to daily in a bid to curb²（抑制，束缚） binge drinking（酗酒） and emphasise³ the harms of saving up a week's limit to blow in one or two sessions at the weekend - a decision it stands by today.

But Dr Sheron says this was a mistake: "They were turned into daily limits by a community of civil servants and the reasoning behind it is shrouded⁴（遮蔽，隐藏） in mystery and is not largely supported by experts.

"The weekly limits were based on robust⁵（强壮的，强健的） studies and were set at a level at which alcohol harms outweigh⁶ any putative⁷ benefit."

Some studies show that alcohol, in moderation, can reduce the risk of heart disease.

In terms of damage to the liver, the risk begins when regular weekly consumption exceeds（超过） about 30 units, said Dr Sheron.

But for other conditions, like cancer, the risk starts at zero and goes up proportionately（相称地，成比例地） with the amount of alcohol is consumed.