New guide for safe drinking

Doctors have recommended that drinkers should have three alcohol-free days a week to avoid the risk of liver disease.

The Royal College of Physicians made the recommendation as they warned that the Government's current guidance on healthy drinking limits is "extremely dangerous".

In a submission to MPs on the Commons science and technology committee, the doctors said: "Government guidelines should recognise that hazardous drinking has two components: frequency of drinking and amount of drinking."

Liver disease kills more than 16,000 a year in the UK, the main cause being excessive drinking.