alcohol

Legal threats have scuppered hopes for the resumption of a Canadian trial of labels warning that drinking alcohol increases the risk of cancer, putting a question mark over plans to inform consumers elsewhere.

Ireland and Australia are both considering labels warning that alcohol increases the risk of cancer, with Ireland’s lower house debating the move this week.

The UK’s Royal Society for Public Health proposed labels last month which include a warning that alcohol is proven to increase the risk of cancer (left). Alcohol producers quietly lowered their voluntary labelling standard last year.

The Canadian study was abruptly halted at the end of December after receiving a range of legal threats, including that it might be guilty of defamation and trademark infringement. Experts say those seeking to obstruct cancer labelling have a wide range of legal options.

The legal threats have not stopped the evaluation of labels not mentioning the increased cancer risk of drinking alcohol: one showing a standard drink size and another the low-risk drinking guidelines. Results are expected in June.

The trial is part of the second phase of the Northern Territories Alcohol Study led by researchers from Public Health Ontario and the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research at the University of Victoria.

Yukon’s 34,000 people have the highest alcohol sales per head in Canada. ■

The owner of Orkney’s Stromness Hotel confirmed it will not sell alcohol as part of a nascent socially-engaged hotel chain.

Jersey-based Payman Investment already owns a dozen hotels and has three more in the pipeline, says CEO Na’im Anis Payman, on a call from Albania.

“There is no huge money pot,” says Payman, saying the chain’s expansion is funded from bank financing.

Its eclectic portfolio already offers stays in locations from Stoke-on-Trent to Ulaanbaatar and points between.

Payman follows baha’i, a faith barring the consumption and sale of alcohol, but he notes his view also fits with science.

The company’s alcohol-free approach is best seen as part of a human and women’s rights agenda, says chief impact officer Tahirih Danesh.

The details of Stromness’s offer are still being finalised, but a common feature of all the hotels will be strong ties with local communities, Danesh says.

It will definitely include serving soothing alcohol-free drinks in the public Flattie Bar. Other possible options will include a spa, massage, yoga and tai chi.

The hotel will not be entirely alcohol-free either, because guests at events like weddings will be allowed to bring their own supply.

Payman says the clarified alcohol-free plan now has significant public and private support, having caused a rumpus when first floated in August. ■

Is there “no safe level” of alcohol drinking? I spoke to BBC World News about a Lancet report which reinforces much of what I say in Alcohol Companion. ■

This is an extract of Alcohol for Nerds the follow up to Alcohol Companion.

There was a social media giant in start-up tens of thousands of years before Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter started vying for our attention: alcohol.

Alcohol has far higher spec in some ways. A pleasant taste, high-fidelity surround sound, and 3D-graphics are standard, with feelivision optional.

To access our alcohol social accounts, we just need to find a few acquaintances and add a glass or two. As if by magic, our responsibilities and hierarchies melt away with acceptance and mirth, almost guaranteed.

With our inhibitions and anxiety dissipated, we listen, talk, and laugh more freely than usual. Alcohol’s sedative effects throw a blanket around us, allowing us to savour social connection without distraction.

And this feels great because having a social connection is one of the key elements in sustained feelings of happiness. The warm glow from it is likely to have evolved to reward us for getting in with a good tribe.

We only need to look at how wedded we now are to social media to see how compelling the feeling can be. Alcohol is at least as compelling, altering the way our brain works at the same time.

Inebriation itself can also feel quite cosy and, over time, the feeling can be heightened by association with the sense of social bonding. It can start to seem alcohol is inherently worthwhile.

People receiving a placebo drink (who think it contains alcohol) are also more jolly and friendly, making more eye contact and smiling and laughing more. The okay to loosen up is more important than inebriation.

A buggy system
This is all very curious, but not a problem. However, the problem is that alcohol is a very buggy legacy program. We are meant to use “common sense” to avoid crashes, but it is not commonsensical.

If we indulge in alcohol on our own, it does not have quite the same heart-warming results. It can temporarily blot out our worries, but over time makes it harder for us to fend them off ourselves.

Long-term heavy drinking or binging can alter our brains to make us jumpy when we are not sedated with alcohol. The bringer of peace and tranquillity starts to have the opposite effect.

Something we have been told can uncork our inner passions can leave us listless, among other things. Moreover, if we do not find much social connection without it, it can become life’s only feel-good experience.

Stopping is the answer, or at least getting under the guideline maximum. The latter is no guarantee of problem-free alcohol use, but the risk is low. Long-term moderation is harder than quitting.

Leaving the lock-in
We may have to face getting out of a lock-in. If our brains have adapted to alcohol’s sedative effects, initial discomfort comes with an immediate payoff, followed by annoying niggles that often last a year.

On top of the possible discomfort of our brains returning to equilibrium, we can also feel socially adrift without our trusty alcohol app to hand. This can sound like a mental siren for straying outside the safety of the clan.

Anyone unfamiliar with the sensation could try logging out of Facebook for a day or two or locking away their mobile phones. You might feel a similar pang.

But we have reason to be positive. We did not evolve to drink alcohol as we often do, following patterns formed in pre-scientific times. It is no surprise dosing up on an ancient potion gives us problems.

Only in the last few decades have we realised how our conscious and unconscious lives are harmonised by the miraculous blancmange between our ears. Alcohol has nothing to offer us as fuel or medicine.

Alcohol’s lock-in is a nuisance but does not last forever. Pushing through has overwhelmingly positive results. We can connect, clown around, and relax perfectly well without the help of an alcohol app if we allow ourselves. ■