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Government of Jerseygov.je

Information and public services for the Island of Jersey

L'înformâtion et les sèrvices publyis pouor I'Île dé Jèrri

Alcohol: the facts

​​​​​​Recommended alcohol limits

Men and women are advised to not drink more than two or three units of alcohol a day, with a suggested maximum of 14 units a week. Try and have two or three alcohol free days each week. 

You can use the alcohol units on NHS Choices website to find out how many units of alcohol are in your favourite drink.

To work out the number of alcohol units and calories you have consumed, use the unit and calorie calculator on drinkaware website.

Woman who are pregnant or trying to conceive are advised not to drink any alcohol at all. This is because drinking can cause serious damage to the foetus.

How alcohol affects your health

Drinking small amounts of alcohol can have some health benefits if you are otherwise healthy. However, even small amounts can increase the risk of certain illnesses. 

Alcohol affects every system in your body. You don’t usually see the harm it causes until an illness has developed or until any problems become irreversible.

Most people know that alcohol can cause liver disease but it causes many more problems that you might not be aware of. You can find out more about alcohol misuse risks on NHS Choices website. 

Assess your drinking habits

To find out if you are drinking too much, you can use the check how much alcohol you drink questionnaire

Take our questionnaire

Once you have your questionnaire result, you can use it to compare your score with others in Jersey, set goals and understand how alcohol impacts your health and wellbeing using the following tool:

Alcohol and you, a brief advice leaflet

Get help

If you're worried about your drinking, there's plenty of help and support available. You can also get help for a family member. You can find more information on our alcohol issues and getting help page.

​​Manage your health and wellbeing

​​Manage your health and wellbeing with Jersey's app library IslandLiving​.​

Alcohol and licensing strategy for Jersey

In Jersey, we drink high levels of alcohol compared to other countries, including France and the UK.

The alcohol and licensing strategy recognises this and ​sets out to:

  • reduce the high levels of alcohol consumed in Jersey
  • reduce young people’s drinking and their access to alcohol
  • help those who want ​to drink less
  • reduce the rates of alcohol related offences and protect those at risk of those offences
  • support business through an fair and transparent licensing system
  • ensure interventions are evidence based and don't penalise businesses or sensible drinkers

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