The Times doctor's next online forum is on the subject of stress and depression. Answers will appear at 1pm on January 2. To ask Dr Thomas Stuttaford your questions on this topic and to read other recent topics he has answered click here

Q1. What tips can you give for "lining the stomach" as my parents used to call it, before going to a Christmas event? My father used to swear by a glass of milk as a good preparation for the stomach. What is your view? Peter David, Harrogate.

A1: Your parents gave you very sound advice. Alcohol is absorbed more quickly from the small intestine than it is from the stomach. To slow the absorption of alcohol, and therefore its impact on your senses, it is necessary to slow the stomach's action so that the wine stays in it for as long as possible. Fats cause the stomach to release a hormone that delays stomach emptying. Milk is a good source of fats and as it spreads evenly over the whole of the inner surface of the stomach it is especially effective. If you have time for a bite to eat before you go out, as well as a glass of full cream milk, so much the better. I would suggest a piece of cheese or pate on toast or bread would be ideal. Once you start drinking try and spend as much time as possible sitting down eating canapes. People sitting drink less than when standing - this is one reason why bars have so few seats. The effect of alcohol when accompanied by food is always less than when it is drunk on an empty stomach, try and aim to have more of your drink intake with a meal rather than as aperitifs before eating. Once you return home drink plenty of water, at least two tumblers-full.

Q2: Drinking at Christmas? The answer is so simple. Surely there should be a zero tolerance to drinking and driving? Stanley Collins, Shrewsbury.

A2: No, I don't agree. Your suggestion obviously has the advantage of being simple and therefore easily understood. However we don't live in Cromwell's Britain and unlike Cromwell and his fellow Puritans we don't think that Christmas should be cancelled. Going out and meeting other people, in fact socialising in general, is an important part of living. For example the more outgoing someone is the less likely they are to suffer Alzheimer's and other assorted psychological problems, including some of the depressive states. A drink or two is one aspect of this and the evidence is that one unit of alcohol, that will raise the blood alcohol level by fifteen, has no deleterious effect on driving. It is only after two units, and the blood alcohol has crept up to 30 that there is a falling off in precision driving. Remember that the modern glass of wine is likely to be one to two units rather than one unit. These figures are aimed at the social drinker. Hardened drinkers without liver damage could probably take more but none of us would want to, or could start to legislate taking this into account.

Q3: I read last week that the size of drinking glasses has increased in recent years, thus leading unsuspecting drinkers to be over the limit - and also to people generally drinking more than they realise. How I can be sure to keep to a couple of moderate size glasses when I am either in a pub or restaurant, or especially, when visiting friends? Dylan Brand, Hertford.

A3: Yes, the standard pub glass used to be 125ml (or cc). Now they are usually 175. Many pubs and restaurants will serve more than this and charge you accordingly. The glasses that the average host serves wine at his or her dinner table is usually larger than the standard 175 glass and may hold as much as the old fashioned goblet, perhaps three times as much. When I am drinking I try to estimate how many of the contents of the old fashioned 125 glasses, known in my household as garage glasses because they are the ones that used to be given away when buying petrol, would fit into the smarter larger glass in which wine is served by friends and some restaurants.

Drinkers also have to be aware that wine is now much stronger than it was. It is now rare to be given ultra low strength German white wines that were quite commonly served twenty years ago. Everybody should assume that a 125 glass of wine is of about 12.5 per cent alcohol strength, a few will have a higher alcohol content and one or two rather lower. The 125 glass of this strength wine is around 1.5 units, not one unit as they were twenty five years ago. The usual home measure is at least two units if not three units. There are twelve units of the standard strength wine (around twelve per cent) in a litre bottle, for those who measure their drinking by the half bottle rather than the glass.

Remember that the tot of spirits served in a pub is nothing like the measure that your friendly neighbour will give you. It is the pub tot that is one unit, not your neighbour's whisky. A home or friend's whisky is usually at least three units.

Beers and lagers have tended to get much stronger over the years. The average beers used to be around 3.5 per cent, Foster's lager provided one unit, Carlsberg lager two units. Strong beers are around five per cent, the super special beers are almost three times as strong as the ordinary beers and lagers, look on the bottle to find out how strong the beer is. A relative of mine always greets the bar tender by saying "a glass of the strongest beer you have". I notice that sometimes her beer is as strong as a weak wine.

Q4: How can I tell if I am drinking too much - I don't mean measuring by units which I can't be bothered to do but by looking at my appearance and health. What are the giveaway symptoms that I should be looking for? Name and address withheld.