We Brits are no strangers to the ale house. There are some 60,000 pubs in the UK and plenty more hotel bars. Drinking at home is also on the increase . This tendency for a tipple is costing us our health. New research from University College London, published in the journal Hepatology, reveals the full pummelling our livers are taking.

Professor Rajiv Jalan of UCL’s liver failure group studied drinking habits and liver damage in 1039 men and women aged 36–55. Participants were all apparently healthy, but regularly enjoyed a cheeky half (or ten). That is, the sort of people we all know (and may even be), who are routinely down the pub, but wouldn’t describe themselves as having a drinking problem. All the same, their drinking levels were eye-opening:

• More than 70% of subjects drink more than the recommended limit (14 units/week for women, and 21 units/week for men).

• 41% drink every day.

Anyone reading this drink every day? Even in my student prime, I at least took Mondays off. Well, Monday mornings.

Each participant used a home-testing kit to check levels of enzymes associated with liver abnormalities—alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST). The results suggest that around a third of participants have liver abnormalities; many were not aware.

It’s important to note that these numbers are drawn from ‘routine drinkers’ rather than the population at large, but it’s still cause for thought. Liver disease presents few symptoms in its early stages, and many remain unaware until their livers are in a parlous state.

“More than 50% of the population studied are at higher risk of mortality compared with age-matched and sex-matched controls,” reckons author Diana Romero.

Hmm, I’m having second thoughts about going on that pub crawl tonight.