Dr Sadie Boniface looks at the trends in alcohol consumption and harm throughout 2021. Read more »
2021 alcohol consumption and harm: no signs of a ‘return to normal’
Consumption
Does alcohol make you fat?
The relationship between alcohol and obesity is extremely complex. Dr Gary O’Donovan looks at what the UK Government can do in their ‘war on obesity’ regarding alcohol consumption, and shows an interesting new finding about men, alcohol and BMI. Read more »
Does a tipple topple the scales? The science on alcohol and body weight
Does alcohol increase calorie intake? Does alcohol lead to weight gain? Mackenzie Fong’s new study looks at these important questions, at a time when the UK Government is looking to tackle an epidemic of obesity. Read more »
Is it time to help alcohol retailers make more money by selling less alcohol?
Public health bodies need to focus on more specific policy aims in order to make a difference and educational campaigns can develop the necessary climate to implement these policies. Read more »
Preventing harmful alcohol consumption is an excellent investment for countries
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published an in-depth book that highlights the huge cost of alcohol harm across 52 countries, and models how much could be saved by enhancing public health policies. Read more »
How can we use what we already know about health inequality to understand inequalities in alcohol harm?
As part of the Royal College of Physicians action on health inequalities day, our blog post looks at four key theories in health inequality and their potential to help understand the causes of alcohol harm inequality. Read more »
The transition to fatherhood and men’s health: How can we better support fathers?
As men have become more active parents in recent years, there needs to be better support for them. Dr Dimova and Dr O’Donnell look at what support could be offered to new fathers to reduce their drinking and smoking. Read more »
Minimum Unit Pricing in Scotland and Wales: what is the impact so far?
Professor Kaner assesses how minimum unit pricing in Scotland and Wales is changing consumption patterns and harmful drinking habits. Read more »
The COVID-19 Pandemic in the US, sheltering-in-place and university students: A cautionary tale of loneliness and drinking to cope
Professor Cynthia Mohr looks at how university students in the US have used alcohol as a coping mechanism in a response to loneliness and social isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic. Read more »
What has 2020 done to the UK’s alcohol consumption?
Alcohol stats expert Colin Angus trawls through a lot of data to work out Brits’ drinking habits in this exceptional year Read more »
On the strengths and limitations of ‘NoLo’ drinks
Lucy Holmes writes about the findings of Alcohol Change UK sponsored research into a growing drinks market Read more »
COVID-19 and alcohol – consumption data strengthens case for ambitious alcohol policy
COVID-19 has put health resilience and preparedness at the forefront of every political debate – How ready were we and our health systems to deal with a public health crisis of this scale? Read more »
Increasing choice to encourage the selection of non-alcoholic, rather than alcoholic, drinks
Originally published on the BMC blog Read more »
The label appeal: A look at industry interference in the little warning labelling study that could
Part 2 of a blogpost on the history of a groundbreaking labelling study illustrates the level of industry opposition faced by the researchers involved Read more »
Time to downsize wine bottles?
New study assessing the impact of wine bottle size on home drinking finds smaller bottles can have a positive effect Read more »
Are there associations between drinking contexts and harms that are not explained by the level of alcohol consumption?
Abigail Stevely explains the findings of her research Read more »
Does the size of a wine glass affect how much we drink?
Natasha Clarke and Gareth Hollands on an interesting experiment into a curious phenomenon Read more »
Are young people in England still drinking less?
Dr Melissa Oldham summarises the latest NHS England stats on underage drinking Read more »
Alcohol-free alcohol: A 0.0-sum endgame?
Habib Kadiri wonders if non-alcoholic drinks normalise alcohol branding in areas where they shouldn’t? Read more »
Newly defined at-risk drinkers following the change to the UK low risk drinking guidelines: who and what to do?
Researcher Philippa Case explores findings from a new study on ‘newly defined at-risk drinkers’ following a change to the UK’s low risk drinking guidelines. Crossposted from Alcohol Policy UK Read more »
Generational divide in trends in abstention from alcohol; more young people abstaining than older people
Older people might have something to learn from their younger counterparts when it comes to drinking patterns, says Dr Linda Ng Fat Read more »
The economic impact of changes in alcohol consumption in the UK
The Fraser of Allander Institute summarises the results from a recent research project on the potential macroeconomic impact of changes in UK alcohol consumption Read more »
By tackling cheap off-trade alcohol, we can support pubs AND reduce harmful consumption
New report shows that there is a common ground between the pub trade and public health advocates Read more »
Club Soda hosts the first-ever Mindful Drinking Festival
Inaugural event held as part of a movement to get people to be comfortable with not drinking alcohol Read more »
Alcohol consumption and cardiovascular disease – the deeper you go, the more you know
A blogpost based on BMJ paper “Association between clinically recorded alcohol consumption and initial presentation of 12 cardiovascular diseases: population based cohort study using linked health records” Read more »
Unitary transparency – monitoring drinking habits by the glass
Dr Richard De Visser explains the results of his latest study looking into the effects of unit-marked drinking glasses on people’s alcohol consumption, and what this means for the UK’s alcohol guidelines Read more »
Measuring alcohol in populations
Better monitoring of alcohol consumption is needed; technological advances may soon provide extremely valuable information about context of drinking, says Dr Annie Britton Read more »
Bang per buck – a recent history of white cider
As the Alcohol Health Alliance releases a report showing that 7.5 litres of high-strength white cider can be bought for the price of a cinema ticket, Dr Peter Rice paints a potted recent account of the drink through a medical lens Read more »
The paradox of waning alcohol consumption? It’s the culture, stupid!
Levels of global alcohol consumption have flatlined. Cultural changes may be one major reason why, says Dr Joan Costa-i-Font Read more »