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South African trading hours case heads to the High Court: South Africa’s Constitutional Court will hear a case brought by DG Murray Trust, which wants stricter limits on when alcohol can be sold in the Northern Cape. Read more
UPDATE: Alcohol-induced dementia care costs UK households hundreds of millions: Alcohol-induced dementia care costs the UK around £380m a year, split roughly half-and-half between the cost of paid and unpaid care, according to an Alcohol Review estimate. Share/Comment
Alcohol consumption surges in India, but falls in the US and China: Alcohol consumption volumes rose 10% in India in the first half of 2026, according to alcohol industry research firm IWSR, but fell 4% in the US and 3% in China. Read more
Ghanaian NGO opposes lifting ban on alcohol sports sponsorship: The NGO VAST Ghana has opposed the Ghana Football Association’s appeal to lift restrictions on alcohol sponsorship in sports, arguing that commercial gains must not override child protection and public health. Read more
Expressive writing may help people cut down alcohol intake: “This research presents preliminary support for expressive writing as a novel intervention [for heavy alcohol drinking].” Read more
Young people’s drinking is lower but not low: “Alcohol levels are still pretty high,” Katherine Keyes, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University told the New York Times. “Even in Gen Z.” Read more
Alcohol health warning posters from the twilight of the USSR: “The exhibition [of late Soviet alcohol posters] includes work like ‘Alcohol Destroys Life’, a 1989 poster that shows a bottle crushing a man, and ‘Lethally Harmful’ from the same year, depicting a bottle shape inside a razor blade cutting into a heart shape.” Read more
Previously
Iceland adopts national alcohol and drug prevention strategy: “Iceland has adopted a national alcohol and drug prevention strategy running to 2035, replacing a framework that dates from 2013. The government says the new policy is grounded in public health, evidence and human rights…” Read more
Korea enhances drunk driving warnings on labels: “Starting today [in Korea], warning phrases and images highlighting the dangers of drunk driving are being added to all alcohol bottles.” Read more
Thailand relaxes Buddhist holiday ban for tourist sites: “Thailand has introduced new rules allowing alcohol sales at designated venues, including licensed nightspots, on five major Buddhist holy days, while maintaining the general nationwide ban on alcohol sales on those dates.” Read more
Heart defects found in alcohol use disordered men: “Before abstinence treatment, men with alcohol use disorder [in a study of 171] had abnormalities in myocardial deformation and extracellular space despite similar ejection fraction. Read more
Poland’s Senate health committee reportedly adopted amendments to an alcohol regulation bill, including one that postpones a full ban on alcohol ads until the end of 2030 and another that allows ads for alcohol-free beer to continue. Read more
“Using three strains of koji, white, black and yellow, the students grew the mould directly on slices of waste bread. Its natural enzymes broke down the starch into fermentable sugar, which yeast then converted into alcohol.” Read more
Kenyan parliament hears first reading of sweeping alcohol bill: Kenyans under 21 could be barred from buying and drinking alcoholic products if parliament passes a wide-ranging alcohol bill given its first reading in the lower house yesterday. Read more
New NHS mental health centres should not exclude people with alcohol problems: People receiving treatment for alcohol and drug problems “should not be excluded” from new NHS mental health centres in England, the government said. Read more
Experts and parliamentarians call for MUP in England: A group of 55 experts called on UK Health Secretary Yvette Cooper to introduce minimum unit pricing in England, saying evidence from Scotland and Wales is “clear and compelling”. Read more
US university pauses undergraduate alcohol events amid hazing probe: Philadelphia’s Drexel University has temporarily paused all undergraduate student organisation events which involve alcohol or the induction of new fraternity members. Read more
Alcohol industry charity to focus on “increasing risk drinking”: Increasing-risk drinking is “one of the UK’s biggest opportunities for prevention”, alcohol industry charity Drinkaware said yesterday. Read more
Alcohol stocks jump after Trump defeat: Alcohol companies saw a spike in share price after Donald Trump’s drubbing in the midterm elections. The share price of Constellation Brands rose over 7%.
A single dose of liver “matrix-bound nanovesicles” derived from healthy porcine tissue reduced liver injury, fat accumulation and oxidative stress in alcohol-fed mice, pointing to a possible new therapeutic strategy for alcoholic liver disease. Read more
Alcohol accounted for 19%–26% of substance-related adolescent acute care admissions in the US, increasing to over 70% among adults aged 55–64 years. Read more
“The story of how you initially fell into [alcohol] addiction is comparatively easy to tell… It’s much harder to tell the story of how you convinced yourself to return to a habit that you had already pushed to its limit,” says writer Meghan O’Gieblyn, who then does so. Read more
“Fiji’s first National Alcohol and Drug Recovery Centre will be established in Tamavua with a $10m grant from the government of the Republic of Korea over six years.” Read more
Tiny fraction of US heavy drinkers offered advice: “While nearly 69% of [US] adults who received health care reported being screened for alcohol use, only 3.5% of those reporting heavy drinking received advice from a health care provider to reduce their alcohol consumption,” according to a new study. Read more
Hundreds flagged in South African compliance crackdown: “[The premier of the South African province of Gauteng] has revealed that 20 liquor outlets have been shut down and hundreds of establishments flagged for non-compliance following 7,322 inspections as the province intensifies its crackdown on alcohol-related violence linked to gender-based violence and femicide.” Read more
India’s probe of Scotch imports explained: The Indian government is arguing privately with companies that their bulk Scotch imports do not qualify for a halved 75% tariff outlined in the India-UK free trade agreement, which took effect in July. Read more
“Churches [in Trinidad and Tobago] are studying a new law passed by Parliament that could make the traditional sip of wine taken by children and teenagers during Holy Communion a 50,000 dollar [US$7,400] offence, and plan to make representations before Christmas.” Read more
“American Airlines pilots have been warned not to eat tiramisu served on some crew meal trays at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport after the contracted catering provider supplied desserts containing alcohol.” Read more
Alcohol-related crashes fall after blood-alcohol threshold lowered: Utah’s pioneering lowering of its blood alcohol threshold for impaired driving to 0.05% from 0.08% was associated with close to a 9% reduction in alcohol-related crashes over the next four years. Read more
US household alcohol spending share lowest in four decades: Alcohol accounted for an average of 0.77% of US household expenditure last year, the lowest share since the data series in 1984, Bloomberg reports. Read more
UK Chancellor in pint-downing publicity stunt: UK Chancellor John Healey, 66, yesterday downed a pint and held the empty glass upside down over his head, shortly after announcing a Budget in which he maintained alcohol tax the same in real terms. Read more
Alcohol Review – Issue 127, October 29th 2026: Alcohol tax, an “incredible opportunity”; EU health committee’s “deeply problematic” language; Medical coding under-records alcohol involvement; Alcohol-associated disability rise; WHO launches brief intervention hub; Alcohol-frees no boost to cutting down ■