www.alkoholpolitik.ch

Abstract
Resveratrol has shown evidence of decreasing cancer incidence, heart disease, metabolic syndrome and neural degeneration in animal studies. However, the effects on longevity are mixed. We aimed to quantify the current knowledge of life extension from resveratrol. We used meta-analytic techniques to assess the effect resveratrol has on survival, using data from 19 published papers, including six species: yeast, nematodes, mice, fruitflies, Mexican fruitflies and turquoise killifish. Overall, our results indicate that resveratrol acts as a life-extending agent. The effect is most potent in yeast and nematodes, with diminished reliability in most higher-order species. Turquoise killifish were especially sensitive to life-extending effects of resveratrol but showed much variation. Much of the considerable heterogeneity in our analysis was owing to unexplained variation between studies. In summary, we can report that few species conclusively show life extension in response to resveratrol. As such, we question the practice of the substance being marketed as a life-extending health supplement for humans.
(Source: rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org, 06/20/12)

In Focus
Launch of Eurocare recommendations for a future EU alcohol strategy
Estonia is developing an alcohol policy green paper

News from Eurocare
Actis (Norway): The Government says no to curbing serving hours
Alcohol and Society (Denmark) challenges Carlsberg over the promotion of alcohol in Denmark
Alcohol Focus Scotland: Scottish policy developments
SLAN (Sweden): Summer updates

News from the European Union Institutions
Presentations from the 10th meeting of the Committee on National Alcohol Policy and Action
EU Health Programme – Annual report 2010
Health-EU Portal survey ….

News from across Europe

New research and reports

Upcoming events
(Source: Eurocare, 06/19/12)

Two types of state laws can help reduce the risk of teens’ drinking and driving, a new study suggests. Graduated driver licensing laws, which help new drivers gain experience in less risky situations, and use-and-lose laws, which allow the suspension of a teen’s driver license if they are caught using alcohol, were both found effective.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis looked at the drinking and driving behaviors of more than 220,000 teens ages 16 and 17, HealthDay reports.

“The key finding of our study was that states with restrictive [graduated driver licensing] laws and use-and-lose laws had less youth who reported driving after drinking any alcohol or riding in a car with a driver who had been drinking alcohol,” study author Patricia Cavazos-Rehg said in a journal news release. “In other words, a student in a state with the strongest [graduated driver licensing] and use-and-lose laws would be approximately half as likely as a student in a state with the weakest laws to drive after drinking.” …
(Source: Join Together, 06/19/12)

ICan_postern Lancashire, Community Alcohol Networks (CANs) have been developed by the Trading Standards Alcohol and Tobacco team, in conjunction with Lancashire Constabulary, to adopt a partnership approach to reduce alcohol-related crime and problems amongst young people.

Lancashire have released a CAN Practitioner Toolkit and a CAN Problem Oriented Partnership report.

The project was established with the aims of reducing young people’s access to alcohol in order to reduce risky drinking and alcohol fuelled anti social behaviour. It also aimed to reduce problems by tackling proxy purchasing through enhanced enforcement activity in identified hotspots. In addition it aimed to raise awareness of alcohol related health and social issues amongst young people, parents and the wider community.

Over 12 weeks the Community Alcohol Networks were claimed to have achieved :

51 per cent reduction in alcohol fuelled anti social behaviour
violent crime has reduced by 22 per cent
criminal damage has seen an 11 per cent reduction ….
(Source: Alcohol Policy UK, 06/18/12)

Consultation on the methods used to estimate alcohol-related hospital admissions for England has been opened by the North West Public Health Observatory (NWPHO).

It was announced that the hospital admissions data would be reviewed when the Public Health Outcomes Framework was released earlier this year, stating ‚the preferred option is for an indicator based on just alcohol-related primary diagnoses, to minimise the risk of perverse consequences from any changes in coding practice so the indicator rewards local areas for good performance.‘

Hospital admissions data was formerly used to monitor ‚National Indicator (NI) 39‘ performance under ‚Local Area Agreements‘ (LAA). However LAAs were scrapped under the Government’s Localism agenda, although areas can still monitor hospital admissions data through the Local Alcohol Profiles for England (LAPE) site and are reviewed in the annual national alcohol statistics.

The Morning Advertiser reported that the trade is concerned that such data influences Government alcohol policies. Kate Nicholls, strategic affairs director at the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers said „Too often in the past we have seen alcohol-related statistics over-stated and over-played or used as a public health political football.“

Concerns may reflect alcohol-related admissions figures which now top over a million attributable admissions per year, attracting media headlines. Primary alcohol diagnosis admissions are however less than 200,000 per year. Alcohol-related admissions account for the impact of conditions such as hypertension where alcohol plays a key role in many cases. …

Download the consultation document here [pdf] and response form. NWPHO
(Source: Alcohol Policy UK, 06/13/12)

Comment: The industry isn’t pleased, let’s change the rules.

Sport is not an arena for alcohol promotion

This weekend, UEFA Euro 2012 kicks off in Warsaw. During the next weeks 1.4 million fans are expected at the stadiums, and millions of people will follow the championship from more than 200 territories around the world. This is a brilliant opportunity to promote sport, physical activity and a healthy lifestyle. However, looking at the sponsors to UEFA Euro 2012, healthy lifestyle is not the message put forward when exposing the audience with sponsors such as Coca Cola, McDonalds and Carlsberg. Carlsberg is one of the leading breweries in the world, and is one of the official sponsors to the UEFA Euro 2012.

In 2009, global sponsorship spending was estimated for 44.8 billion USD; compared to 5.6 billion in 1987. It must be working and paying off. ‘It is extremely disappointing that with such an unique platform UEFA with silent blessing of political leaders is choosing to promote alcohol over health. To associate and brand football together with alcohol is more than problematic. It is simply lack of any long term consideration of the impact bad health will have on the population.’ says Mariann Skar- Secretary General of European Alcohol Policy Alliance. …
(Source: Eurocare, 06/7/12)

A new Keystone Research Center report has found that states with more control of the sale and distribution of alcohol have fewer alcohol-related traffic fatalities than states with no such controls. The new analysis showed that with all else equal, a state with control characteristics like Pennsylvania has 58 fewer adult deaths per year from alcohol-related traffic accidents than it would if the state had no control over the distribution of alcohol. The findings reinforce the recent Community Preventive Services Task Force recommendations against the privatization of alcohol sales, and are particularly relevant in Pennsylvania given recent moves to privatize there. Check out Alcohol Justice fact sheets for more info on: – Effectiveness of State Control
– Dangers of Alcohol Sales Privatization
(Source: Alcohol Justice, 6/6/12)

The U.S. had the second-lowest proportion of students who used tobacco and alcohol compared to their counterparts in 36 European countries, a new report indicates.

The results originate from coordinated school surveys about substance use from more than 100,000 students in some of the largest countries in Europe like Germany, France and Italy, as well as many smaller ones from both Eastern and Western Europe.

Because the methods and measures are largely modeled after the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future surveys in this country, comparisons are possible between the U.S. and European results. The 15- and 16-year-old students, who were drawn in nationally representative samples in almost all of the 36 countries, were surveyed last spring. American 10th graders in the 2011 Monitoring the Future studies are of the same age, so comparisons are possible. …
(Source: Medical News Today, 6/6/12)

The current EU Alcohol Strategy is coming to an end in 2012. However Europe is still the world’s heaviest drinking region-

– Alcohol is the world’s number one risk factor for ill-health and premature death amongst the 25 – 59 year old age group, a core of the working age population

– Alcohol related harm is 1 of the 4 risk factors for developing NCDs such as cancer and cardiovascular disease

– Social costs attributable to alcohol account for €155.8 billion

Due to the size of the problem and universal impact this problem requires a comprehensive, coordinated response from policy and decision makers at the European and national levels.

This event will build on the Call for Action from 88 health and social NGOs from across Europe and will be an opportunity to address the issue in the European Parliament to ensure continuation of the efforts to tackle alcohol related harm.

Draft programe

For more informaiton please conact Eurocare Secretariat
When
June 27th, 2012 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Location
Rue Wiertz 60
European Parliament
Brussels, B 1047
Belgium
Contact
Phone: +32 (0)2 736 05 72
Email: aleksandra.kaczmarek@eurocare.org

The latest annual statistics on alcohol for England 2012 have been released by the ONS, confirming a continuing rise in alcohol-related and primary alcohol attributable hospital conditions. Alcohol-related admissions rose 11% on the previous year with primary diagnosis conditions up 2.1%. Ns_logo

This comes despite falls since 2004 in the proportion of adults reporting drinking alcohol. Continuing admissions – many being long term conditions – are thought to be linked to decades of rising consumption prior to 2004. Additionally indications that amongst some groups, those who are drinking are drinking more.

Some key facts from the report include:

A 2.1% increase in primary diagnosis alcohol conditions (198,900 for 2010/11) since the previous year and a 40% increase since 2003 (142,000).
A 11% increase on alcohol-related admissions (based on attributable fractions) totalling 1,168,300 for 2010/11.This is more than twice as many as in 2002/03 (510,700). …
(Source: Alcohol Policy UK, 06/5/12)