Most people who have alcohol-related health problems aren’t alcoholics. They’re simply people who have regularly drunk more than the recommended levels for some years. Regularly drinking more than the recommended daily limits risks damaging your health. There’s no guaranteed safe level of drinking, but if you drink less than the recommended daily limits, the risks of harming your health are low.

And it’s certainly not only people who get drunk or binge drink who are at risk. Most people who regularly drink more than the NHS recommends don’t see any harmful effects at first. Alcohol’s hidden harms usually only emerge after a number of years. And by then, serious health problems can have developed. The effects of alcohol on your health will depend on how much you drink. The more you drink, the greater the health risks.

Kent County Council’s Director of Public Health Andrew Scott-Clark has launched the annual Public Health report focusing on drinking and its effects. ‘Problem drinking’ can conjure up a number of images. You may picture a street drinker on a park bench. You may picture a youngster staggering out of a nightclub, getting into a fight and ending up in an ambulance. But do you picture your husband or wife, your mum or dad sitting on the sofa watching The X Factor drinking glass after glass of their favourite tipple?

The annual report sets out how KCC Public Health team are doing to tackle this, as well as highlighting the work of a number of other agencies and partners across the county.

For more advice on how to drink safer and what help is available to you if you have a problem with your alcohol or if you are concerned about someone else:

• Go to the Live It Well Alcohol Advice Pages by following the link.
• NHS Choices Alcohol Pages also have a wide range of information to help you drink sensibly.
• To see more information about the Annual Public Health Report: Too Much follow the link.