The UK Department of Health have released a cell phone application to help promote sensible drinking during the festive season. The Units of drink are keyed into the phone to track consumption and graphs are generated to allow users to track their drinking versus recommended units.  It’s great to see the wider adoption of this powerful medium in healthcare communication.

Public health minister Gillian Merron launched the "alcohol tracker", which is available from iTunes and www.nhs.uk.

It allows drinkers to input how much they are consuming and view graphs of whether they are sticking to recommended units, which are three to four a day for a man and two to three for a woman.

The application also helps people work out how many alcoholic units there are in a drink and get personalised feedback on their habits.

Ms Merron said: "It is all too easy to lose track of how much you drink. So as the festive parties start to build up, this innovative tool will help people keep tabs on their drinking - wherever they are.

"Sticking within the NHS recommended limits means you reduce the risk of serious conditions such as mouth cancer and strokes."

Chris Sorek, chief executive of Drinkaware, said: "Trying to stick within the daily unit guidelines will help people avoid the January slump and the long term health implications associated with drinking too much alcohol."

People with a standard mobile can access a units calculator by texting the word UNIT to 64746.