Pub patrons shrug off new U.K. health warnings about alcohol

• Binge drinking boosts cancer risk, British health officials warn
• Binge drinking by young women raises future health risks

"You hear different things all the time from the government and health people,"saidGavin Norman, a pub manager who says he's not worried about the new guidelineshaving any impact on business. "People drink what they're doing to drink."

How much is too much?

The new recommendations say that men and women should consume no more than14 units of alcohol a week.Thatworks out to about six pints of beer or seven glasses ofwine.

For women, that's the same as the previous limit, issued 20 years ago. But formen, it's way down from the former recommended maximum of 21 units.

The guidelines also say that people should have several alcohol-free days a week,and certainly not consume the 14 units in one boozy go.

The new limits are some of the strictest in the European Union. And they're tougherthan Canada's, which recommends no more than 10 drinks a week for women, and15 a week for men.

England's chief medical officer says the changes were made after new researchshowing that any amount of alcohol consumption can increase the risk of certaincancers.

She suggested Brits turn to their country's other favourite drink instead: tea.

"I like a glass of wine. But actually what I do when I go home because I believe youdo need many of usa ritual, is drink a glass of tea, a cup of tea instead of a glassof wine,"Dame Sally Davies said on a British TV morning show Friday.

Boozy Britain

Whether or not the average British drinker will follow suit remains to be seen.

Some recent statistics show that alcohol consumption is on the decline in Britain, and that young people are drinking less than their parents did.

But other trends suggestthe new guidelines might not go down so well.

Consider this: The U.K. has previously been ranked among the worst in the world forbinge drinking by the World Health Organization, while hospital visits for alcoholpoisoning have doubled over the past six years, according to a report by the NuffieldTrust, a health care charity in London.

The country's drinking culture was recently immortalized in a photograph taken on New Year's Eve in Manchester.

Dubbed "The Creation of Manchester," it shows an older man sprawled on the ground, bottleinhand, his belly popping out from under his shirt, while police pin another reveller to the ground. The drunken scene quickly went viral.

It might be an unfair depiction considering it was a night of the year where many people around the world might have foundthemselves in a similar state but, still, the level of drinking in the U.K. can be a bit much if you're not used to it, said German ex-pat Anta Klee, who moved to London oneyear ago.

"As a German sometimes we think, 'We're Germans, we like our beer!'" said Klee. "But in the U.K. ...they just get really drunk. I've never seen more drunk people ever."

While it's a reputation many are quick to deny, others, like punter Matt Male, admit the country didn't earn the nickname Boozy Britain for nothing.

Drinking 'ingrained'

"It's ingrained," he said, sitting at a table with friends catching the last call at the King's Arms in central London. "It's kind of part of what we do. It's like part of our way of life."

And because of that, Male, like most pub patrons, doesn't think the guidelines will change people's habits.

In fact, the new recommendations were met more withlevity than concern.

"Standard Friday night is seven pints!" laughed Mark Cole, out celebrating the end ofthe week with a group of friends. "It's only a recommendation. You can take it orleave it."

Even those who said they believe Britain has a problem with booze didn't see thetougher guidelines having much effect.

"Some people have too much," said pub patron Alex Buller. "But I don't think changing the rulesis going to change their behaviour."

Nevertheless, some say it's time to break the binge-drinking habit.

"I think women of my generation have beentold or sold this myth that wine is a treat, it'sgood for you," LucyRocca, whoruns theSoberistaswebsitededicated to women who want to follow her leadand stop drinking, told the BBC in a recent interview.

"The health harms have been very, very muchplayed down."