WE all know by now, I think, that if we don’t take responsibility for our own health then the NHS will fall even deeper into financial debt.

However, sending out mixed messages – as seems to now happen on a regular basis – is really not helping the situation. For example, I was always under the impression that it was best for your health to give yourself two or three clear days a week from alcohol whatever your intake.

Now, Public Health England, which apparently is the Government’s health quango, is set to tell us all to avoid alcohol on consecutive days. In other words, have one day on and one day off. This not only represents a huge shift from previous guidelines but confuses people, worries moderate drinkers unnecessarily and muddies the whole drinking sensibly ethos.

This latest edict also divides the medical profession on the subject and makes ordinary individuals start to question all this kind of overarching advice. Only a few months ago, we were told to forget five fruit and vegs a day as seven a day was the new goal – a really quite difficult routine to follow for most of us, and expensive.

All that does is add to the criticism of a “nanny state” and make many people simply stop listening to any Government advice on their health and lifestyle. And that way lies a big problem, financially and otherwise.

No. Surely commonsense comes into any official body’s thinking and subsequent edicts? It seems reasonable that drinking moderately, perhaps a drink a day of one or two units, is probably better for us  because of its benefits for heart health.

This is not an argument for binge-drinking and everyone, including those who drink themselves stupid on a regular basis, know that this is bad for health. Let’s face it, we don’t feel good after over-indulging the day before on a small amount never mind after vat-fulls of the stuff.

Unfortunately, like anything overdone, extreme advice like this latest pronouncement simply de-values the coinage. Helpful tips and guidance  on most health matters tends to be welcomed anytime by sensible citizens who want to keep well and out of hospital. But making statements without any apparent research or sense is a sure-fire way to push people in the opposite direction.