alcohol

Updated 28.8.2024 to include response from Men’s Sheds.

The UK Men’s Sheds Association acknowledged concerns from health experts and shed users about its partnership with alcohol giant Diageo, while highlighting the benefits of the controversial deal.

“It is genuinely a response to harmful drinking especially in the 50-70 age group,” Men’s Shed chief executive Charlie Bethel told Alcohol Review. The 18-month pilot of the DrinkIQ-branded co-created product will allow the charity to assess its impact. One shed which closed now meets at a Wetherspoons, Bethel noted.

Bethel said some shed users have objected to the deal, but he said it is comparable to other charities taking money from National Lottery scratch cards. He said he could not speak for Diageo’s motives, but noted the success of its alcohol free beers. There is currently no evidence alcohol-free beer cuts harm.

“It’s prob too late but worth having a read of the evidence on partnerships with harmful product industries They don’t have men’s health–or women’s, for that matter–as a strategic aim,” said Greg Fell, President of the The Association Of Directors of Public Health (UK), on X at the time of the announcement in late July.

“There are other places to get your information about alcohol harm to help with recovery, addiction and mental health regarding alcohol than those that make it profit from it,” commented alcohol harm reduction campaigner Mick Unwin.

“This is a very unfortunate move by UK Men’s Sheds,” said Sheila Gilheany head of Alcohol Action Ireland, echoing the similar concerns about the expertise an alcohol company might have in offering information on alcohol harm.

“Very sad to see this corporate capture of Men’s Sheds,” said another commenter who sits on the board of a harm reduction charity. ■

News the biggest players in the UK’s alcohol industry have agreed to put weekly drinking guidelines on their labels, a month before a government deadline to do so, has prompted little jubilation among health advocates.

The Portman Group, an alcohol industry mouthpiece, dribbled out the news in a piece in the Daily Mail, couching its promise with a caveat about it being subject to “feasibility”. Jubilation was muted, with the UK’s trust-based system taking some 1,300 days to get this far.

The government agreed to let the alcohol industry have a “grace period” until September 1st to comply in March 2017, only making the agreement widely known in January this year. The terms of any new arrangement underlying today’s statement are unknown.

“This half-hearted pledge, by some parts of the alcohol industry, is a strong indicator that the UK deserves a fair system that sets a level playing field for all food and drinks producers,” the Alcohol Health Alliance told Alcohol Companion.”

“All alcohol products must advise drinkers about both the contents and consequences of consumption to empower consumers to make fully- informed choices about their health.”

“While this marks a half-step forward, it shows that the current system of alcohol industry self-regulation is failing consumers,” said Katherine Severi, head of the Institute of Alcohol Studies, which provides a health slant on alcohol policy

It remains to be seen what effect the Portman Group agreement will have, if any. It could prove to be mostly about refreshing the label for a period of inaction from “grace period” to “feasibility period”. ■

Data from mid-July showed a total volume of 1.3bn litres of alcoholic drinks were bought in shops in the first 17 weeks of lockdown, compared to 2bn litres in the same period the previous year. This is a 35% fall in the total volumes of alcoholic drink bought compared to last year. But this may overstate the fall in alcohol retail purchasing, because we tend to consume more wine at home than beer, so getting twice or three times the amount of alcohol per litre. So, for the statistically inclined, here are some figures on sales volumes growth by drink type, which should allow the calculation of an estimate of alcohol volume purchased. This story will be updated with any resulting analysis. ■

Alcohol induced deaths in each US state, in descending order of the percentage increase since the pandemic based on provisional figure for 2022.

		2019	2022*	Change, %
1	Mississippi	240	443	84.6
2	Delaware	106	174	64.2
3	South Dakota	191	307	60.7
4	Alaska	185	286	54.6
5	South Carolina	620	954	53.9
6	Maine	208	317	52.4
7	Missouri	608	911	49.8
8	Indiana	791	1,151	45.5
9	Rhode Island	139	202	45.3
10	New Hampshire	203	295	45.3
11	Iowa	408	591	44.9
12	Tennessee	936	1,328	41.9
13	Minnesota	828	1,171	41.4
14	Illinois	1,137	1,601	40.8
15	Maryland	430	601	39.8
16	Montana	246	343	39.4
17	Nevada	546	759	39.0
18	Kansas	353	487	38.0
19	Ohio	1,242	1,707	37.4
20	District of Columbia	70	96	37.1
21	Nebraska	271	371	36.9
22	Wisconsin	865	1,183	36.8
23	Pennsylvania	1,047	1,419	35.5
24	Georgia	940	1,273	35.4
25	Oregon	938	1,264	34.8
26	Michigan	1,193	1,598	33.9
27	Louisiana	368	491	33.4
28	Colorado	1,198	1,581	32.0
29	Washington	1,264	1,658	31.2
30	North Dakota	149	195	30.9
31	North Carolina	1,176	1,530	30.1
32	Massachusetts	738	959	29.9
33	Idaho	290	375	29.3
34	Utah	290	372	28.3
35	New Mexico	729	928	27.3
36	New York	1,581	2,009	27.1
37	Oklahoma	659	836	26.9
38	Arizona	1,286	1,623	26.2
39	California	5,345	6,738	26.1
40	Hawaii	96	121	26.0
41	Virginia	773	965	24.8
42	Connecticut	409	509	24.4
43	Texas	2,656	3,285	23.7
44	West Virginia	252	304	20.6
45	Florida	2,722	3,272	20.2
46	Alabama	425	502	18.1
47	Kentucky	553	646	16.8
48	Wyoming	178	206	15.7
49	Vermont	125	144	15.2
50	Arkansas	342	386	12.9
51	New Jersey	698	777	11.3
	Total	39,043	51,244	31.3

Alcohol price controls should be among the steps used to reduce high alcohol consumption to prevent or delay two out of five dementia cases, says a new report from a Lancet commission.

The report also suggests “increased awareness of levels and risks of [alcohol] overconsumption” among 13 recommendations to reduce the risk or delay onset of dementia. A parallel study estimates £4bn ($5bn) annual savings in England.

“Healthy lifestyles that involve regular exercise, not smoking, cognitive activity in midlife… and avoiding excess alcohol can not only lower dementia risk but may also push back dementia onset,” said lead author Professor Gill Livingston of University College London.

“Overall, reduction of excessive alcohol or sustained light drinking is associated with a lower dementia risk than is excessive alcohol. A lack of clear evidence exists that not drinking alcohol increases the risk of dementia,” the report says.

Vision loss and high cholesterol were also added to 12 potentially modifiable risk factors identified in the previous iteration of the report in 2020. ■

An apparent forward step on alcohol safety labelling last week may, in fact, signal that it is about to get worse.

The alcohol industry Portman Group (PG) says it agreed with the health department “for the removal of out-of-date information” by September 1st. But it does not mention adding current low-risk guideline amounts.

Adding the weekly guidelines is not among the minimum “best practice options”. Instead, PG offers advice on how to “reflect” weekly consumption guidelines it refers to as “revised” though current since January 2016.

PG emphasises it offers advice while ignoring the fact that none of its members are committed to follow it. So years of foot-dragging on safety labelling may yet morph into a full-blown reverse.

The health department agreed a September 1st deadline for the alcohol industry action in March 2017. The existence of the “grace period” was unknown until a speech by then junior minister Steven Brine in January.

Few may yet realise it, but the grace period may have just been quietly extended and also expanded to green-light alcohol suppliers to offer no weekly consumption guidelines at all. ■