Anne Collins drinks a few glasses of wine most evenings during the week and a bottle at the weekends, but she’d never classify herself as a binge drinker or someone who has a drinking problem.

Like many busy mums, she thinks of her daily tipple as a nice way to relax.

Anne, whose three children now range in age from 10 to 15, explains: “It became a habit when the children were young. I can remember when they were all very young, and Aaron had just started school and Brooke was two and Euan was in his rocker, and I can remember being in the bedroom with my foot on the rocker, sort of listening to Aaron read and doing something with Brooke and you know you’re just like, ‘Oh, I need a glass of wine!’”

But could Anne unknowingly be drinking dangerous amounts for her health and underestimating the impact that her drinking has on her family?

Britain’s binge-drinking youth culture is very much in the spotlight, however, new evidence suggests that equally destructive patterns of drinking exist among middle class, middle-aged mothers.

Deaths from chronic liver disease have increased by eight times in men aged 35-44 years and seven times in women, over the past three decades. And the science suggests that woman take more risks than men when consuming alcohol, as research shows they become drink dependent quicker than men and suffer more harm to their bodies.

But how much alcohol is too much? Tonight reporter Nicky Taylor endeavours to find out through a unique experiment.

Nicky, who enjoys a few glasses of wine most evenings herself, along with Anne Collins and another mum allow their children to film their drinking routines for a week.

Medical experts also carry out a number of health checks, including liver function tests to see if their alcohol consumption has had any negative side effects.

And then the mums are then given an assessment by both their kids and the health professionals on whether or not they drink too much, with shocking results.

Monday 3 March 2008 8:00pm - 8:30pm on ITV1.