www.alkoholpolitik.ch

Limiting alcohol to half a unit per day is best for health, say Oxford University researchers who analyzed the link between alcohol consumption and 11 chronic diseases and concluded 4,600 more lives would be saved every year if people in England were to cut the amount they drink to within this level.

They write about their findings in a BMJ Open paper that was published online on 30 May.
The lead author of the study was Dr Melanie Nichols of the BHF Health Promotion Research Group, in the Department of Public Health, at Oxford University. She told the press:

„People who justify their drinking with the idea that it is good for heart disease should also consider how alcohol is increasing their risk of other chronic diseases. A couple of pints or a couple of glasses of wine per day is not a healthy option.“ …
(Source: Medical News Today, 06/01/12)

In 2011 we organized the First European Conference on Alcohol Law Enforcement in Rotterdam. The conference was a successful start of a network on alcohol law enforcement in Europe. This year we are continuing the network initiative with a conference in Stockholm at 15 and 16 November 2012. Theme of the second conference is Reducing public drunkenness and over-serving related violence. Every European city is facing this problem and every law enforcer that is active at night-time will recognize this issue. There are some very interesting best practices on reducing alcohol related violence in Europe and there is a lot of research on evidence based interventions. In November we will present those best practices and bring the specialists on this topic in Europe together with the members of the European Network for Alcohol Law Enforcement.

Signing in for the conference is possible by this link: http://www.fhi.se/conf20121115
(Source: European Network for Alcohol Law Enforcement, 05/31/12)

Young people in Switzerland are consuming twice as much alcohol as was previously believed, with many young adults drinking large amounts at the weekend.
These were the results of a research project supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and presented on Wednesday. Psychologist Emmanuel Kuntsche and his team from the addiction centre Sucht Schweiz in Lausanne conducted a mobile phone survey of 183 western Swiss (86 men and 97 women) aged between 19 and 26. For five weeks the participants had to give hourly updates from Thursday to Saturday on their consumption of alcohol, from early evening to midnight as well as the following morning. At the beginning of the survey they were also questioned on their consumption during the previous 30 days. …
(Source: Google Alcohol News, 05/28/12) bazonline.ch, 05/23/12

Alcohol advertising should be banned in Europe in a bid to drive down excess boozing and associated ill health across the continent, concludes an alliance of experts in a new policy brief.

Alcohol is Europe’s most persistent and devastating addiction problem, says the Addiction and Lifestyles in Contemporary Europe – Reframing Addictions Project (ALICE-RAP), which brings together a network of over 150 researchers with expertise in many different aspects of addiction, including the social and economic impact. …

The briefing notes that the most effective and fairest policies are those which nudge people towards lower consumption, through price hikes, restrictions on availability, and advertising bans.

A minimum unit price, which the Scottish government announced its intention to introduce earlier this week, is supported by research, says the briefing. Scotland has opted for a 50 pence minimum unit price, while England is considering a 40 pence option. …

The evidence shows that alcohol adverts push people into higher and more harmful levels of consumption and trigger relapse among those trying to give up booze. Furthermore, it can encourage young people to start drinking, says the brief, which advocates a wholesale ban.

“Europeans drink more than twice the world’s average and alcohol represents the number one addiction problem in Europe today, greater than any other drug or gambling, “ said Dr Peter Anderson, Professor of Substance Use, Policy and Practice, Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University, and co-leader of the project, speaking at the report’s launch yesterday.

“Our aim with this policy brief is to help decision makers across the EU and beyond break the negative pattern of harmful alcohol consumption and costs by providing much needed scientific input to the discussion, which has long been dominated by the alcohol industry lobbyists,” he added.
(Source: Alcohol Reports, News, 05/21/12) onmedica.com, 05/17/12

Comment: Unfortunately many politicians do not like scientific input.

One in eight deaths of UK adults under the age of 64 is caused by alcohol, an international conference on tackling problem drinking has heard.

The social cost of alcohol abuse has been estimated to be £240 a year for each European, with the annual bill for the NHS alone being £2.7 billion.

A major conference of addiction specialists from across the world is meeting at Newcastle University and organisers have called for England to follow Scotland and set a minimum price per unit.

They have also demanded a ban on advertising alcohol.
Too easy: Prof Eileen Kaner from Newcastle University said the government had to be bolder about tackling cheap alcoholl

In Europe, alcohol consumption is more than twice the global average and it represents the biggest addiction in the UK, greater than any illegal drug or gambling.

(Source: Alcohol Reports, News, 05/21/12) dailymail.co.uk, 05/16/12

Starting this weekend, the Long Island Rail Road is banning alcohol on overnight weekend trains out of Penn Station. The pilot program is an effort to curb disorderly passengers and attacks on train crew members.
(Source: Alcohol Reports, News, 05/21/12) nbcnewyork.com, 05/19/12

According to a new study in the American Journal of Public Health, Australia could yield economic and health benefits by reducing its overall national yearly alcohol consumption.

In 2008, researchers estimated the economic benefits Australia could achieve in health, production and leisure, if the annual per capita consumption of alcohol would be reduced to a designated average yearly target of 6.4 liters per capita.

They discovered that reducing the annual per capita alcohol consumption by just 3.4 liters would save Australia’s health sector $789 million. The saving would be the result of one-third fewer cases of disease, deaths, lost working days and home-based production loss days. …
(Source: Medical News Today, 05/20/12)

our Online-Comment: Yes, this would be an advisable target for many other countries too. But politicians are more listening to the alcohol industry which is not willing to lose profit.

The 10 communities that will receive funding for work to tackle binge and underage drinking have been announced by Communities and Local Government. The fund was opened for bids earlier this year by Baroness Newlove, the government’s Champion for Active, Safer Communities.
The CLG press release states:

Over the next two years these innovative grassroots projects, backed by local authorities, police and retailers, are expected to deliver real results to end the fallout of problem drinking. Other communities will hopefully be inspired to follow their lead. The projects will address separate issues that are the greatest challenges in their neighbourhoods, with measures of their success that will include:

– a reduction in the number of anti-social behaviour incidents related to alcohol consumption
– fewer A&E admissions to local hospitals or fewer ambulance call outs as a result of drinking
– the consumption of alcohol by young people reducing to safe levels; and
– a reduction in purchasing of alcohol made on behalf of under 18s („proxy purchasing“).
(Source: Alcohol Policy UK, 05/16/12)

Around 50 Norwegian municipalities currently have places that sell alcohol to three o’clock at night. If these pubs have to close the sale of alcohol an hour earlier, the income of each club will probably be reduced by around 10 percent, according to a new report from the Norwegian National Institute of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research (SIRUS).

– The main conclusion is that a one-hour reduction in the sales hours will reduce revenue per pint with an average of 9 to 12 percent, said SIRUS researcher Hans Olav Melberg.

– This is an average. Some restaurants and bars will experience a larger drop in sales, while others will experience a smaller effect, said Melberg.

The figures from the research are good news for all those who are working for an reduction of binge drinking and violence, says Sten Magne Berglund, Deputy Secretary General of Actis – a Norwegian Policy Network on alcohol and drugs. …
(Source: Eurocare Newsletter 4/2012)

Background: Response rates for surveys of alcohol use are declining for all modes of administration (postal, telephone, face to-face). Low response rates may result in estimates that are biased by selective non-response. We examined non-response bias in the NZ GENACIS survey, a postal survey of a random electoral roll sample, with a response rate of 49.5% (n = 1924). Our aim was to estimate the magnitude of non-response bias in estimating the prevalence of current drinking and heavy episodic (binge) drinking.
Methods: We used the ‘‘continuum of resistance’’ model to guide the investigation. In this model the likelihood of response by sample members is related to the amount of effort required from the researchers to elicit a response. First, the demographic characteristics of respondents and non-respondents were compared. Second, respondents who returned their questionnaire before the first reminder (early), before the second reminder (intermediate) or after the second reminder (late) were compared by demographic characteristics, 12-month prevalence of drinking and prevalence of binge drinking.
Results: Demographic characteristics and prevalence of binge drinking were significantly different between late respondents and early/intermediate respondents, with the demographics of early and intermediate respondents being similar to people who refused to participate while late respondents were similar to all other non-respondents. Assuming non-respondents who did not actively refuse to participate had the same drinking patterns as late respondents, the prevalence of binge drinking amongst current drinkers was underestimated. Adjusting the prevalence of binge drinkers amongst current drinkers using population weights showed that this method of adjustment still resulted in an underestimate of the prevalence.
Conclusions: The findings suggest non-respondents who did not actively refuse to participate are likely to have similar or more extreme drinking behaviours than late respondents, and that surveys of health compromising behaviours such as alcohol use are likely to underestimate the prevalence of these behaviours.

(Source: Alcohol Reports, 04/26/12) Open source