Heavy drinking is linked to some cancers and can damage your liver. The NHMRC’s 2009 Australian Guidelines to Reduce Health Risks from Drinking Alcohol recommends that ‘for healthy men and women, drinking no more than two standard drinks on any day reduces the lifetime risk of harm from alcohol-related disease or injury’. A standard drink is the equivalent of a middy (285mL) of full strength beer and 100mL of wine.