5 ms·

What is “drink” here? How many milliliters, what percentage of alcohol? 40%? 15%? 50ml or 200ml?

by EugeneOZ 5y ago

enraged_camel 5y ago
I’m wondering this too.
- brokensegue 5y ago
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_drink https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_drink
  - EugeneOZ 5y ago
    thanks!
ashtonkem 5y ago
I’m starting to see “drinks” measured in terms of volume of pure ethanol. The UK has defined its standard drink as 10ml of pure ethanol, which conveniently comes out to a single 25ml shot of liquor. Based on the Netflix documentary I watched, it seems like they’re starting to standardize the labels of alcoholic drinks in the UK to inform consumers how many units of alcohol it represents, and also encouraging people to keep their consumption below X/Y units a day and week.
- Engineering-MD 5y ago
  Alcoholic drinks are all labelled now and have been for about a decade. It is useful to know how much you are drinking
- bscphil 5y ago
  > The UK has defined its standard drink as 10ml of pure ethanol This is interesting. In the US a standard drink [1] is often considered roughly equivalent to one can of 5% ABV beer, or a 1.5 fl oz shot of 80 proof liquor. That comes out to about ~17.5 ml of alcohol. I not-infrequently have beers that are 9% ABV. Maybe I should rethink how many servings of alcohol I have a week by international standards... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_drink https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_drink
  - ashtonkem 5y ago
    I think the difference in a standard drink is driven by customary units which tend to be smaller in the UK. A British shot is either 25 or 35ml, while the standard American shot is typically 44ml (1.5oz). British beer is also sold in pint (20 oz) and half pint (10 oz) units, while an American pint will be 16oz across the board. This layout seems to point towards smaller units, with the smallest British unit being 10ml of ethanol (25ml at 40ABV), while the smallest possible American equivalent would be 17.6ml for a 1.5 oz shot. Thus if we’re using a single shot as our measure of a “standard drink”, then Americans will be consuming about 70% more pure ethanol than their British equivalent per drink. Also, health authorities have begun rethinking how much drinking is too much, hence the downward deviation of what the international standards say.

What is “drink” here? How many milliliters, what percentage of alcohol? 40%? 15%? 50ml or 200ml?

enraged_camel 5y ago

I’m wondering this too.

brokensegue 5y ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_drink https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_drink
- EugeneOZ 5y ago
  thanks!

ashtonkem 5y ago

I’m starting to see “drinks” measured in terms of volume of pure ethanol. The UK has defined its standard drink as 10ml of pure ethanol, which conveniently comes out to a single 25ml shot of liquor. Based on the Netflix documentary I watched, it seems like they’re starting to standardize the labels of alcoholic drinks in the UK to inform consumers how many units of alcohol it represents, and also encouraging people to keep their consumption below X/Y units a day and week.

Engineering-MD 5y ago
Alcoholic drinks are all labelled now and have been for about a decade. It is useful to know how much you are drinking
bscphil 5y ago
> The UK has defined its standard drink as 10ml of pure ethanol This is interesting. In the US a standard drink [1] is often considered roughly equivalent to one can of 5% ABV beer, or a 1.5 fl oz shot of 80 proof liquor. That comes out to about ~17.5 ml of alcohol. I not-infrequently have beers that are 9% ABV. Maybe I should rethink how many servings of alcohol I have a week by international standards... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_drink https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_drink
- ashtonkem 5y ago
  I think the difference in a standard drink is driven by customary units which tend to be smaller in the UK. A British shot is either 25 or 35ml, while the standard American shot is typically 44ml (1.5oz). British beer is also sold in pint (20 oz) and half pint (10 oz) units, while an American pint will be 16oz across the board. This layout seems to point towards smaller units, with the smallest British unit being 10ml of ethanol (25ml at 40ABV), while the smallest possible American equivalent would be 17.6ml for a 1.5 oz shot. Thus if we’re using a single shot as our measure of a “standard drink”, then Americans will be consuming about 70% more pure ethanol than their British equivalent per drink. Also, health authorities have begun rethinking how much drinking is too much, hence the downward deviation of what the international standards say.