I’M often asked by patients if alcohol confers any health benefits.

I’d like to reach out to our community and empower them on the health benefits and risks of alcohol consumption as well as helping patients understand the wider impact on how alcohol-related issues affect NHS resources.

Estimates on the number of intoxicated patients in the UK attending A&E range between 12 and 15 percent but peak on Friday and Saturday evenings when up to 70 per cent of all A&E and ambulance attendances can be alcohol-related.

Accordingly, alcohol-related harm is estimated to cost the NHS in England £3.5 billion every year.

Leading on from this, between 2021 to 2022, there were 342,795 hospital admissions that were wholly due to alcohol.

Alcohol confers very few health benefits.

The main health benefit from moderate alcohol consumption is an associated lower risk of developing coronary artery disease and stroke.

This may be in part because small amounts of alcohol can raise your HDL or ‘good’ cholesterol levels.

Moderate alcohol consumption may also lower your risk of developing kidney stones and type two diabetes.

Over time excessive alcohol use can lead to serious health problems.

This includes high blood pressure, damage to the heart muscle termed cardiomyopathy leading to heart failure and an increased risk of abnormal electrical rhythms within the heart which is called an arrhythmia.

Alcohol consumption also increases your risk of liver and pancreatic disease as well as digestive problems.

Recently evidence has emerged that alcohol use is associated with an increased risk of developing cancer of the breast, mouth, throat, oesophagus, voice box (larynx), liver and bowel.

Alcohol weakens the immune system which increases the chances of getting infections.

It also poisons the bone marrow leading to abnormally large red blood cells that cannot carry oxygen properly leading to fatigue and organ damage.

Alcohol is toxic to the nervous system causing coordination and movement problems as well as muscle weakness and epilepsy.

It is associated with an increased risk of developing learning and memory problems, including dementia.

Alcohol does not relieve stress, anxiety or depression and does not improve sleep.

To the contrary, long-term alcohol use is associated with an increased risk of mental health problems, including causing depression, anxiety and difficulties with sleep.

Furthermore, anti-anxiety, anti-depressant and anti-psychotic medications are unlikely to work and improve your mental health in the context of ongoing alcohol consumption.

Alcohol is a direct cause of social problems, including family and relationship problems, job-related difficulties, financial problems, criminality and legal problems.

So what is a safe amount of alcohol to consume?

Men and women are advised not to drink more than 14 units a week on a regular basis.

The idea of counting alcohol units was first introduced in the UK in 1987 to help people keep track of their drinking.

Units are a simple way of expressing the quantity of pure alcohol in a drink.

One unit equals 10ml or 8g of pure alcohol which is around the amount of alcohol the average adult can process in an hour.

Fourteen units is equivalent to six pints of average-strength beer or 10 small glasses of lower-strength wine.

If you would like support or help with alcohol-related health problems then please contact your GP.

You can also self-refer to the Swanswell alcohol recovery service or Cranstoun, Worcestershire.

Our columnist Dr Jason Seewoodhary is a former Worcester GP.