www.alkoholpolitik.ch

Strenuous exercise significantly increases the incidence of upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) caused by transient immune dysfunction. Naturally occurring polyphenolic compounds present in food such as non-alcoholic beer (NAB) have strong anti-oxidant, anti-pathogenic, and anti-inflammatory properties.
To determine whether the ingestion of non-alcoholic beer polyphenols for three weeks prior to the Munich Marathon would attenuate post-race inflammation and decrease URTI incidence. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 08/25/11) Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercice, May 2011 Volume 43

A large-scale survey was conducted in 2008 in north west England, a region with high levels of alcohol-related harm, during a regional ‚Big Drink Debate‘ campaign. The aim of this paper is to explore perceptions of how alcohol consumption would change if alcohol prices were to increase or decrease.
A convenience survey of residents (>18 years) of north west England measured demographics, income, alcohol consumption in previous week, and opinions on drinking behaviour under two pricing conditions: low prices and discounts and increased alcohol prices (either ‚decrease‘, ’no change‘ or ‚increase‘). … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 08/24/11) BMC Public Health 2011, 11:664; doi:10.1186/1471-2458-11-664

A new report from Alcohol Concern looks at how children and young people are at risk of being exposed to alcohol marketing and pro-drinking messages via the internet.
‚The report reveals the growing importance to alcohol companies of social networking sites (SNSs) like Facebook and video sharing sites such as YouTube as a means of promoting their products, and the inadequacies of online age verification pages aimed at preventing under 18s from accessing content intended for adults.
It also highlights the frequent practice of users of SNSs posting pictures and descriptions of themselves drinking and being drunk, and asks why so many of us choose to publicise our alcohol consumption in this way.‘ (Source: Alcohol Policy UK, 08/23/11)

Alcoholism suppresses the immune system, resulting in a high risk of serious, and even life-threatening infections. A new study shows that this effect stems largely from alcohol’s toxicity to immune system cells called dendritic cells. These cells play a critical role in immune function, responding to danger signals by searching for unfamiliar antigens within the body that would be coming from invading microbes, and presenting such antigens to T cells, thus activating them to seek and destroy cells containing these antigens. The research is published in the July 2011 issue of the journal Clinical and Vaccine Immunology. … (Source: Alcohol Reports – News, 08/22/11) infectioncontroltoday.com, 08/9/11

We investigated tobacco companies’ knowledge about concurrent use of tobacco and alcohol, their marketing strategies linking cigarettes with alcohol, and the benefits tobacco companies sought from these marketing activities.
We performed systematic searches on previously secret tobacco industry documents, and we summarized the themes and contexts of relevant search results. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 08/20/11)

Over an average British person’s lifetime, 5,800 pints of beer are consumed, plus 8,700 glasses of wine, 2,900 bottles of cider, 5,808 shots of spirits, 1,452 cocktails, 1,452 glasses of liquor, and 1,452 glasses of champagne – the equivalent of 456 drinks annually. The typical Brit also experiences 726 hangovers over a lifetime. £962 are spent annually on alcohol, or £58,201 ($93,000) by the time they die.
Below are some highlighted statistics from the survey:
The average Brit consumes alcohol at least three nights each week … (Source: Medical News Today, 08/19/11) our online-comment: In this study it is not included, what everybody pays a life time for alcohol-related social costs. We should not forget this.

The Addiction editorial by Robin Room, Jürgen Rehm and Charles Parry point out that this year the United Nations General Assembly sessions,will hold a special session on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), emphasizing the importance of addressing such diseases in order to reduce the global burden of illness.
Together with smoking, diet and physical inactivity, consumption of alcohol is among the four most important risk factors for non-communicable disease (NCD). Alcohol consumption, especially heavy consumption, impacts on cancer, liver cirrhosis and stroke. To reduce the burden of NCD, effective alcohol policies should be implemented locally, nationally and internationally, argues the authors. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 08/17/11)

In 1956, the American Medical Association declared alcoholism a „disease.“ More than half a century later, the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) has proclaimed addiction, including alcoholism and „process“ addictions like gambling, to be the same.
According to the ASAM’s definition, published on the group’s website on Monday, addiction is a „primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry.“ This clarification, which was based on consultations with more than 80 experts, is aimed in part at de-stigmatizing addictive disorders.
That’s an admirable goal. The scientific evidence shows that addiction is rooted in distinct brain changes, just like other mental illnesses such as depression (though in both instances, the same changes are not found in all people with the conditions). The research does clearly show that evidence-based treatment is far more effective at resolving drug abuse problems than law enforcement efforts like incarceration. There’s no justification for treating people with addiction any differently than other patients. (Source: Join Together, 08/18/11) healthland.time.com, 08/16/11

The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) has released a new definition of addiction highlighting that addiction is a chronic brain disorder and not simply a behavioral problem involving too much alcohol, drugs, gambling or sex. This the first time ASAM has taken an official position that addiction is not solely related to problematic substance use. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 08/15/11)

The purpose of this study was to conduct a literature review of cost-benefit studies on pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy treatments of alcohol dependence (AD).
A literature search was performed in multiple electronic bibliographic databases. The search identified seven psychotherapy studies from the USA and two pharmacotherapy studies from Europe. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 08/16/11)