The Australian Guidelines to Reduce Health Risks from Drinking Alcohol were developed by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia to help individuals in reducing the risks to their health from drinking alcohol.

Guideline 1: Reducing the risk of alcohol-related harm over a lifetime

• The lifetime risk of harm from drinking alcohol increases with the amount consumed.
• For healthy men and women, drinking no more than two standard drinks on any day reduces the lifetime risk of harm from alcohol-related disease or injury.

Guideline 2: Reducing the risk of injury on a single occasion of drinking

• On a single occasion of drinking, the risk of alcohol-related injury increases with the amount consumed.
• For healthy men and women, drinking no more than four standard drinks on a single occasion reduces the risk of alcohol-related injury arising from that occasion.

Guideline 3: Children and young people under 18 years of age

• For children and young people under 18 years of age, not drinking alcohol is the safest option.
• Parents and carers should be advised that children under 15 years of age are at the greatest risk of harm from drinking and that for this age group, not drinking alcohol is especially important.
• For young people aged 15–17 years, the safest option is to delay the initiation of drinking for as long as possible.

Guideline 4: Pregnancy and breastfeeding

• Maternal alcohol consumption can harm the developing fetus or breastfeeding baby.
• For women who are pregnant or planning a pregnancy, not drinking is the safest option.

• For women who are breastfeeding, not drinking is the safest option.

The guidelines are supported by a body of evidence detailing how and why these recommendations were developed.

Research is now available that indicates that alcohol, even at low levels, can have harmful effects to our health both in the short- and long-term.

Regular consumption of two drinks a day translates to a lifetime risk of death from alcohol-related disease of 0.4 in 100. With every drink above that, the risk increases substantially.

Risk of short-term harm through injury was also shown to increase dramatically where over four drinks were consumed on a single occasion.

The levels of drinking proposed in the guidelines aim to support an acceptable amount of risk.