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Wine makers „systematically“ understate the strengths of wines, according to a Guardian report. A study found that 57% of the wines analysed were stronger than on the label; average ABV content was found at 13.6% but the average labelled strength was 13.1%. The analysis also revealed that strength of wine across the world has risen by almost one per cent in recent years. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 07/17/11)

For years, food companies have used advertising, packaging, and brand image to lead people to believe certain products are healthier than they really are. Whether it’s putting a sports star’s face on a Coca-Cola ad, labeling junk food as a “smart choice,” or attaching arbitrary designations such as “all natural” to foods high in fat, sugar, and salt, the food industry knows it must attract health-conscious shoppers. Over the past few years, alcohol companies have begun appropriating many of these misleading advertising techniques. Spirits companies are positioning their vodka as “all natural,” even though the products haven’t changed. Beer companies are sponsoring marathons and running ads showing toned drinkers meeting up at a bar after a work-out. Superstars of grueling, high-endurance sports are being tapped to promote alcoholic beverages. These advertising practices are legally tenuous, morally unsound, and potentially dangerous. Alcohol consumption costs society billions of dollars annually while causing immeasurable human suffering every day. Using health messages to sell products that can cause such widespread harm is not only unethical, it’s illegal, and yet the regulatory system has failed miserably to protect the American public. Because market research shows purchase intent and consumption of a brand increase
when people believe alcoholic products are all-natural or fitness-friendly, intense scrutiny and strict regulation of such misleading claims is essential. This report examines this disturbing trend to promote alcohol as a health and fitness product, analyzes the potential legal implications, and makes policy recommendations. … (Source: Marine Institute, June 2011)

Brussels, 5 July 2011 Eurocare Press Release:
Exemption of alcohol from Food Information to Consumers Provision
Eurocare (European Alcohol Policy Alliance) is extremely disappointed with the shape of the Food Information to Consumers legislation which exempts alcoholic beverages from obligation to list its content. This is despite the fact that alcohol is high in calorie content, carbohydrates and certain ingredients used in its production can cause allergies or intolerances. We strongly believe that we all have the right to make informed choices and the current proposal will mean that one will know what is in a bottle of a fruit juice but not in a bottle of alcoholic beverage.
Providing information (about ingredients and energy value per 100ml) would allow consumers to assess the quality of the beverages and keep track of their calorie intake.
Marian Skar, Secretary General of Eurocare, says: ‘We are very disappointed and concerned about the exemption of alcohol from providing information to consumers. Labelling alcoholic drinks would allow consumers to make an informed choice about their diet and health. This is a bitter reminder about the influence of the powerful industry lobbying on the politicians and their failure to give priority to interest of the
people. It really makes us all wonder what is in our drinks, that the industry is so afraid to tell us’. The European Parliament’s decision is not only ignoring the health and letting people take their own informed choice but it is also not in line with EU’s previous declarations. As stated in the EU Alcohol Strategy launched in October 2006: ‘Citizens have the right to obtain relevant information on the impact, and in particular
on the risks and consequences related to harmful and hazardous consumption of alcohol, and to obtain more detailed information on added ingredients that may be harmful to the health of certain groups of consumers’.

Poverty is often cited as contributing to poor health. Now, in an unusual approach, researchers have calculated how many people poverty kills and presented their findings, along with an argument that social factors can cause death the same way that behavior like smoking cigarettes does.
In an article published online for the June 16 issue of The American Journal of Public Health, scientists calculated the number of deaths attributable to each of six social factors, including low income.
To estimate the number of deaths caused by each factor, the scientists reviewed 47 earlier studies on the subject, combining the data in a meta-analysis. The studies were generally based on large national surveys like the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a continuing study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Source: Harvard World Health News, 07/08/11) nytimes.com, 07/04/11 Comment: Regularly moderate wine drinkers do not belong to this group. Many abstainers do. One more reason why studies with positive health results for moderate drinkers vs. abstainers are not correct.

International News on alcohol politics, 07/04/11

If medical journals and public health advocates are concerned with corporate conflicts of interest, inappropriate marketing
to children, impotent self-regulation, and general flouting of the rules, why are we ignoring the alcohol industry? The crisis of confidence that surrounds the behavior and practices of Big Tobacco and Big Pharma [1,2]—bias in funded research, unsupported claims of benefit, and inappropriate promotion and marketing, among others—should be enough to provoke in us all a high degree of skepticism with any industry involvement in health research and policy. But the evidence and critical voices highlighting the practices of the alcohol industry—a massive and growing US$150 billion global business—have not yet received adequate prominence in medical journals. Indeed, attention to and scientific research on the alcohol industry have not kept pace with the industry’s ability to grow and evolve its markets and influence in the health arena. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 06/30/11)
The PLoS Medicine Editors

The Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS), a project by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, announces its latest update of state-by-state alcohol policies. The update reports developments in 29 current APIS policy topics, for the period 1/2/2009 through 1/1/2010. Visit the APIS website to obtain details on these and other important policy developments across the country. Many of these changes are consistent with the goal of reducing underage drinking and its consequences as well as alcohol-related death and injury in the general population. (Source: Marin Institute, 06/29/11)

NATIONAL STUDY REVEALS:
ORIGINS OF AN EPIDEMIC, TEEN SUBSTANCE USE AMERICA’S #1 PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEM.
90 PERCENT OF AMERICANS SUFFERING FROM ADDICTION STARTED SMOKING, DRINKING, OR USING OTHER DRUGS BEFORE AGE 18.
ALMOST HALF OF ALL AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS SMOKE, DRINK, OR USE OTHER DRUGS.
Nine out of 10 Americans who meet the medical criteria for addiction started smoking, drinking, or using other drugs before age 18, according to a national study released today by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.
Adolescent Substance Use: America’s #1 Public Health Problem reveals that adolescence is the critical period for the initiation of substance use and its consequences. The CASA report finds 1 in 4 Americans who began using any addictive substance before age 18 are addicted, compared to 1 in 25 Americans who started using at age 21 or older.
Adolescent Substance Use at Epidemic Levels:
The CASA report underscores the fact that addiction is a disease with adolescent origins. The underdeveloped teen brain makes it likelier that teens will take risks, including using addictive substances that interfere with brain development, impair judgment and heighten their risk of addiction. (Source: CASA press release, 06/29/11)

Key points of the fact sheet are:
* Effective alcohol marketing regulations are an essential control measure in a comprehensive alcohol policy that aims to decrease alcohol-related harm and to protect young people.
* Effective alcohol marketing regulations are recommended to restrict the volume of alcohol marketing practices to protect harmful exposure to alcohol advertising among young people.
* When alcohol marketing practices are allowed, also content restrictions are recommended to allow alcohol advertisements that contain solely product information.
* Volume and content restrictions are only effective when a strong regulatory system supports the enforcement of the regulation.
* Alcohol marketing regulations in France and Norway can be seen as best practices in Europe: here strong volume or content restrictions go together with a strong supportive regulation system.
* Legislation is significantly more effective than self-regulation systems in ensuring the combination between strong restrictions and an effective supporting system.
De Bruijn and Van den Broeck (2011) have developed a framework to evaluate the effectiveness of existing alcohol marketing regulations and have used this to analyse which European countries have the best and worst regulations. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 06/20/11) eucam.info, 06/17/11

Correcting Mortality Data from Kaunas (Lithuania).
To assess the proportion of deaths assigned to ischaemic heart disease (IHD) which in fact were caused by the toxic effects of alcohol, and how this may affect the official statistics of mortality from IHD in Lithuania. …
A significant number of alcohol-attributable deaths in Lithuania were misclassified as coronary deaths, accounting for almost one-tenth of officially registered deaths from IHD in ages 25–64. A high prevalence of positive post-mortem blood or urine alcohol tests suggests that the proportion of alcohol-related deaths among out-of-hospital IHD deaths may be actually even higher. A similar situation may be present in some other countries where high levels of alcohol consumption and binge drinking patterns are observed. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 06/18/11)