Alcohol Policy UK

News & updates April 2017: sport sponsorship, millennial's holidays, pregnancy, drunk crayfish, online sales & more

Selected media stories since the March roundup:

The issue of alcohol sponsorship in sport has been highlighted in a report by the University of Stirling's Institute for Social Marketing suggesting alcohol producers worked to circumvent legislation designed to protect children during the UEFA Euro 2016 football tournament - Politics.co.uk. Richard Purves explains further in the Conversation.

News & updates March 2017: moderate drinking benefits?, marketing to children; labelling; fraud; & the Brexit booze cruise

Selected media stories since the February roundup:

The question of 'Is moderate drinking good for the heart?' returned to the headlines following new research finding non-drinkers were more likely to need treatment for certain cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack, heart failure and angina, compared to people who drank alcohol within the previous weekly guidelines of 21 and 14 units per week for men and women. An NHS 'behind the headlines' analysis though emphasised such studies cannot prove alcohol consumption or lack of it is a direct cause of cardiovascular disease as non-drinkers were more likely to be from deprived areas, to have diabetes or be obese.

News & updates January 2017: liver transplants, BAC wearables, Wales, ketamine, FASD, heart failure & more

Selected media stories since the December roundup:

The NHS chief executive Simon Stevens said binge-drinkers are "selfish to get so blotto" they end up in an ambulance or A&E.  “More than a third of A&E attendances at peak times are caused by drunkenness - casualty nurses and doctors are understandably frustrated about the NHS being used as a national hangover service,” he added. Telegraph

Meanwhile England’s chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies has admitted her advice on recommended alcohol guidelines could have been better, saying she chose her words poorly when she told women to think about the risk of breast cancer every time they reached for a glass of wine. Times

IAS Alert November 2016: Scottish Government award, alcohol advertising, Liverpool levy, children & more

The latest Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS) Alcohol Alert: November 2016  is now available (here for PDF version). Read the editorial here and articles below:

• Scottish Government wins award for reducing alcohol harm

• Alcohol the cause of 5% of new cancer cases

• Alcohol brands’ ads within guidelines, say ASA

• Alcohol misuse most often treated in middle age

News & updates September 2016: Welsh MUP block, air rage, 'alcohosynth', hangovers, ad bans & more

Selected media stories since the August roundup:

Alcohol in the news

Welsh Government attempts to set a minimum 50p per unit (MUP) have been blocked by Westminster in a move criticised by Doctors - BBC News. MPs refused to devolve pricing powers to the Welsh Government who would seek to stop alcohol being sold "cheaper than water".

The growing number of older people being treated for alcohol dependence is 'all over us like a rash', according to an article in The Huffington Post. The number of people in England aged over 60 being treated for alcohol dependence rose 38% between 2009/10 to 2013/14 as 'the ‘Baby Boomer’ Generation continue with hedonistic lifestyles into their later years'.

Global Alcohol Policy Conference & SSA symposium presentations; NIHR webinar

Global Alcohol Policy Conference 2015

The Global Alcohol Policy Alliance's 2015 Conference, co-hosted by Alcohol Focus Scotland, recently took place in Edinburgh on the theme of 'Momentum for change: research and advocacy reducing alcohol harm'.

Over 100 presentations took place, many of which have been made available until the end of November 2015. Keynote presentations included [in pdf]: