PEOPLE across Wales are being urged to think about what they drink, to help cut health risks due to alcohol consumption.

The message comes from Public Health Wales in a pamphlet - issued to coincide with Alcohol Awareness Week – which aims to help people understand new low risk drinking guidelines, and gives hints on cutting down.

Alcohol is a major cause of death and illness in Wales, with around 1,500 deaths a year (one-in-20) attributed to it.

A recent survey indicated that four-in-10 adults drink above the guideline rates on at least one day a week.

In the most recent Welsh Health Survey, 40 per cent of adults reported drinking above the old recommended guidelines at least once during the week before they were surveyed.

Monmouthshire and Blaenau Gwent were among the top five areas in Wales for people reporting drinking above the old guideline rates in that pre-survey week.

Public Health Wales is advising that people can lower their risk of alcohol-related harm through a range of actions, including:

* Go low – choose lower alcohol drinks, or have more soft drinks;

* Go slow – drink more slowly, or with food;

* Go small – choose smaller glasses, bottles rather than pints, and avoid multi-buy offers.

New alcohol guidelines were published in January 2016, intended to be simpler, and the same for men and women.

Although there is no safe limit for drinking alcohol, the guidelines advise that people can maintain a low risk of harm by drinking less than 14 units a week, and if a person drinks up to 14 units a week, they should spread it out over three or more days.

The guidelines also state that if you are pregnant, or there is a chance you could be, it is safest not to drink at all.

“New research is now telling us something very powerful – there is no ‘safe’ amount of alcohol to drink, so the less you drink the lower the risks,” said Ashley Gould, consultant in public health for Public Health Wales.

More on Alcohol Awareness Week is available on Twitter using the hash tag #knowtherisks