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Recommendations for daily or weekly maximum amounts of alcohol vary widely across Europe. Poland, for example, allows men no less than 35 standard units per week, the Netherlands only seven. A standard unit is a glass containing between 10 and 12 grams of pure alcohol, for example a small beer or a glass of wine holding about 0.125 litres. The calculation is based on the British definition of Alcohol units, which is calculated according to the formula Alcohol units = alcohol content in volume percent x glass content in litres.
In most countries, significantly lower guidelines apply to women than to men. The reason given by the German Nutrition Society (DGE) is that the fluid content of the body is lower in women than in men. The same amount of alcohol therefore leads to a higher alcohol content in the blood of women. Only in Great Britain are there no gender-specific recommendations.
The countries in Europe with the highest limits per week are:
According to national health authorities, these limits are considered "low-risk consumption", meaning that the health risk is thus relatively low. The DGE gives 10 g/day for healthy women and 20 g/day for healthy men as a guideline for a maximum tolerable alcohol intake. Here, 20 g of alcohol corresponds to approx. 0.5 l of beer, 0.25 l of wine or 0.06 l of spirits. At the same time, it is strongly recommended to abstain from alcohol completely on at least two to three days per week.