Standard drink

Common card · No. 246722

A standard drink or (in the UK) unit of alcohol is a theoretical measure of alcohol consumption representing a fixed amount of pure alcohol. The notion is used in relation to recommendations about alcohol consumption and its relative risks to health. In theory it helps to inform alcohol users, but in practice standard drink definitions vary widely country by country and typically contain less alcohol than real world drinks. A hypothetical alcoholic beverage sized to one standard drink varies in volume depending on the alcohol concentration of the beverage (for example, a standard drink of spirits takes up much less space than a standard drink of beer), but in theory it always contains the same amount of alcohol and therefore produces the same amount of intoxication. In reality, research shows that drinkers usually over-pour for drinks like wine and liquor, so real world alcohol intake with those drinks is usually underestimated. Many government health guidelines specify low to high risk...

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