A glass of wine a day is bad for you

Many thousands of lives could be saved if Britons slashed their alcohol consumption, new research suggests.

Cutting average daily intake to the equivalent of half a small glass of wine would prevent almost 4,600 premature deaths a year in England alone, according to a study carried out at Oxford University.

Scientists used a mathematical model to show that the ideal level of alcohol consumption to prevent chronic disease in England was five grams, or about half a unit.