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With the United Kingdom experiencing a series of 'lockdowns' in 2020 and 2021 that disrupted leisure and socializing, the COVID-19 pandemic presents a 'critical juncture' which has facilitated alterations to – and reflections on – drinking practices. Drawing on online semi-structured interviews and focus groups conducted between the first and second UK lockdowns, we highlight three stages in the development and maintenance of UK drinking practices using critical junctures as a theoretical framework. Firstly, we consider the antecedent conditions – such as dominant drinking cultures - that shape pre-pandemic drinking practices and form the backdrop against which changes to behaviors are made. Secondly, we explore the 'cleavage' or initial moment of disruption which gives rise to shifts in drinking practices and consider how this critical juncture stabilizes and is reproduced. Finally, we examine the possible 'legacy' of the critical juncture. The paper highlights implications for healthcare/policy including the importance of considering wider social context when seeking behavioral change. We also stress that alternative explanations – such as declining drinking rates and the growth of Temporary Abstinence Initiatives – must not be ignored when exploring people's shifting drinking behaviors, even during periods of unprecedented social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the authors discuss various reports within the journal on topics including the regulation of alcoholic beverage marketing, the evolution of international marketing laws as of 2017, and the history of alcohol-related laws.

Within the UK, there is a drive to encourage the delivery of alcohol screening (or identification) and brief advice (IBA) in a range of contexts beyond primary care and hospitals where the evidence is strongest. However, the evidence base for effectiveness in non-health contexts is not currently established. This paper considers the case of housing provided by social landlords, drawing on two research studies which were conducted concurrently. One study examined the feasibility of delivering alcohol IBA in housing settings and the other the role of training in delivering IBA in non-health contexts including housing. This paper draws mainly on the qualitative data collected for both studies to examine the appropriateness and feasibility of delivering IBA in a range of social housing settings by the housing workforce. Findings suggest that while it is feasible to deliver IBA in housing settings, there are similar challenges and barriers to those already identified in relation to primary care. These include issues around role inadequacy, role legitimacy and the lack of support to work with people with alcohol problems. Results indicate that the potential may lie in focusing training efforts on specific roles to deliver IBA rather than it being expected of all staff. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background and Aims: Youth alcohol consumption has declined significantly during the past 15 years in many high‐income countries, which may have significant public health benefits. However, if the reductions in drinking occur mainly among lighter drinkers who are at lower risk, then rates of alcohol‐related harm among young people today and adults in future may not fall in line with consumption. There is conflicting evidence from Swedish school studies, with some suggesting that all young people are drinking less, while others suggest that alcohol consumption among heavier drinkers may be stable or rising while average consumption declines. This paper extends the geographical focus of previous research and examines whether the decline in youth drinking is consistent across the consumption distribution in England. Design Quantile regression of 15 waves of repeat cross‐sectional survey data. Setting: England, 2001–16. Participants: A total of 31 882 schoolchildren (50.7% male) aged 11–15 who responded to the Smoking Drinking and Drug Use among Young People surveys. Measurements Past‐week alcohol consumption in UK units at each fifth percentile of the consumption distribution. Findings Reductions in alcohol consumption occurred at all percentiles of the consumption distribution analysed between 2001 and 2016, but the magnitude of the decline differed across percentiles. The decline in consumption at the 90th percentile [β = −0.21, confidence interval (CI) = −0.24, −0.18] was significantly larger than among either lighter drinkers at the 50th percentile (β = −0.02, CI = −0.02, −0.01) or heavier drinkers at the 95th percentile (β = −0.16, CI = −0.18, −0.13). Conclusions: Alcohol consumption among young people in England appears to be declining across the consumption distribution, and peaks among heavy drinkers. The magnitude of this decline differs significantly between percentiles of the consumption distribution, with consumption falling proportionally less among the lightest, moderate and very heaviest youth drinkers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The assessment of patterns in risky drinking and its association with dual diagnosis in community services for older people remains under-explored. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach: Drinking risk using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and the presence of co-existing mental disorders was examined in 190 people aged 65 and over. Findings: In total, 24 per cent of drinkers drank above lower risk levels and 22 per cent reported binge drinking over the past 12 months. Those scoring 1 or more on the AUDIT were more likely to be male and to have greater cognitive impairment than non-drinkers and those reporting no past problems with alcohol. Research limitations/implications: Given the limitations of the Mini Mental State Examination in the detection of alcohol related cognitive impairment (ARCI), the use of other cognitive screening instruments in larger study populations is also warranted. Practical implications: Greater attention needs to be paid to the assessment of risky drinking in older male drinkers and those with cognitive impairment. Originality/value: There is considerable scope for the routine detection of cognitive impairment and dementia in older people with alcohol use within mainstream mental health services, particularly in those with binge drinking. As ARCI is associated with loss of function and independence, early detection and intervention can improve health and social outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have seen an expanding 'no and low alcohol' (NoLo) drinks market in the United Kingdom and other high-income countries. With the UK government pledging to increase the availability of NoLos and encourage their consumption, further research is required to underpin policy and explore the potential for NoLos to ease – or exacerbate – alcohol-related harm. This paper draws on original primary research on NoLo marketing and consumption in the UK; analysis of two NoLo marketing campaigns and semi-structured interviews with both drinkers and non-drinkers who consume NoLos. Addition marketing was identified in the promotion of NoLo products, encouraging consumers to incorporate NoLo consumption into new spatial and temporal contexts on top of their typical weekly drinking patterns. However, there was resistance towards these practices from consumers, who stressed they were more likely to drink NoLos in place of alcohol and incorporate them into their existing drinking routines. This paper expands a currently very limited evidence base and contributes directly to ongoing debates around 'addition' versus 'substitution' (i.e. whether NoLo products are being used on top of or in place of alcohol). Findings highlight both some of the challenges and opportunities of the expanding market, pointing towards the problematic presence of 'addition marketing' but also highlighting the ways consumers might challenge this and use NoLos flexibly to reduce consumption. As a result, NoLo promotion could function as one tool amongst many to help at least some consumers drink in moderation, alongside a broader package of measures such as education and wider social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims This paper estimates how far monthly changes in prevalence of cigarette smoking, motivation to quit and attempts to stop smoking have been associated with changes in prevalence of high-risk drinking, and motivation and attempts to reduce alcohol consumption in England. Design Data were used from the Alcohol and Smoking Toolkit Studies between April 2014 and June 2016. These involve monthly household face-to-face surveys of representative samples of ~1700 adults in England. Measurements Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average with Exogeneous Input (ARIMAX) modelling was used to assess the association over time between monthly prevalence of (a) smoking and high-risk drinking; (b) high motivation to quit smoking and high motivation to reduce alcohol consumption; and (c) attempts to quit smoking and attempts to reduce alcohol consumption. Findings Mean smoking prevalence over the study period was 18.6% and high-risk drinking prevalence was 13.0%. A decrease of 1% of the series mean smoking prevalence was associated with a reduction of 0.185% of the mean prevalence of high-risk drinking 2 months later [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.033 to 0.337, P = 0.017]. A statistically significant association was not found between prevalence of high motivation to quit smoking and high motivation to reduce alcohol consumption (β = 0.324, 95% CI = -0.371 to 1.019, P = 0.360) or prevalence of attempts to quit smoking and attempts to reduce alcohol consumption (β = −0.026, 95% CI = -1.348 to 1.296, P = 0.969). Conclusion Between 2014 and 2016, monthly changes in prevalence of smoking in England were associated positively with prevalence of high-risk drinking. There was no significant association between motivation to stop and motivation to reduce alcohol consumption, or attempts to quit smoking and attempts to reduce alcohol consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Older people consume less alcohol than any other adult age group. However, in recent years survey data on alcohol consumption in the United Kingdom have shown that while younger age groups have experienced a decline in alcohol consumption, drinking behaviours among the elderly have not reduced in the same way. This paper uses data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing to analyse both the frequency and quantity of older adult's alcohol consumption using a lifecourse approach over a ten-year period. Overall drinking declined over time and the analysis examined how socio-economic characteristics, partnership, employment and health statuses were associated with differences in drinking behaviours and how these changed over time. Higher wealth and level of education were associated with drinking more and drinking more frequently for men and women. Poorer self-rated health was associated with less frequent consumption and older people with poor and deteriorating health reported a steeper decline in the frequency of alcohol consumption over time. Men who were not in a partnership drank more than other men. For women, loss of a partner was associated with a steeper decline in drinking behaviours. These findings have implications for programmes to promote responsible drinking among older adults as they suggest that, for the most part, characteristics associated with sustaining wellbeing in later life are also linked to consuming more alcohol. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Whereas lifestyle-related factors are recognized as snoring risk factors, the role of genetics in snoring remains uncertain. One way to measure the impact of genetic risk is through the use of a polygenic risk score (PRS). In this study, we aimed to investigate whether genetics plays a role in snoring after adjusting for lifestyle factors. Since the effect of polygenic risks may differ across ethnic groups, we calculated the PRS for snoring from the UK Biobank and applied it to a Korean cohort. We sought to evaluate the reproducibility of the UK Biobank PRS for snoring in the Korean cohort and to investigate the interaction of lifestyle factors and genetic risk on snoring in the Korean population. In this study, we utilized a Korean cohort obtained from the Korean Genome Epidemiology Study (KoGES). We computed the snoring PRS for the Korean cohort based on the UK Biobank PRS. We investigated the relationship between polygenic risks and snoring while controlling for lifestyle factors, including sex, age, body mass index (BMI), alcohol consumption, smoking, physical activity, and sleep time. Additionally, we analyzed the interaction of each lifestyle factor and the genetic odds of snoring. We included 3526 snorers and 1939 nonsnorers from the KoGES cohort and found that the PRS, a polygenic risk factor, was an independent factor for snoring after adjusting for lifestyle factors. In addition, among lifestyle factors, higher BMI, male sex, and older age were the strongest lifestyle factors for snoring. In addition, the highest adjusted odds ratio for snoring was higher BMI (OR 1.98, 95% CI 1.76–2.23), followed by male sex (OR 1.54, 95% CI 1.28–1.86), older age (OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.03–1.35), polygenic risks such as higher PRS (OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.08–1.29), drinking behavior (OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.03–1.35), late sleep mid-time (OR 1.17, 95% CI 1.02–1.33), smoking behavior (OR 0.99, 95% CI 0.82–1.19), and lower physical activity (OR 0.92, 95% CI 0.85–1.00). Our study identified that the UK Biobank PRS for snoring was reproducible in the Korean cohort and that genetic risk served as an independent risk factor for snoring in the Korean population. These findings may help to develop personalized approaches to reduce snoring in individuals with high genetic risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The optimal management of diminishing drinking at the end of life is contentious. Clinicians and family members may understand the phenomenon differently and hold divergent priorities regarding care. Family members can be distressed by diminishing drinking and its management, particularly when in a hospital environment. Aim: To explore the experiences of family members when witnessing the diminishing drinking of a dying relative. Design: A narrative inquiry methodology, derived from pragmatism. Setting and participants: Thirteen recently bereaved family members were recruited through the bereavement services of three UK hospitals. Inclusion criteria included having an adult relative who died in hospital of any diagnosis more than 48 hours from admission and who had had noticeable diminishing drinking. Findings: Participants experienced diminishing drinking as an unfolding process that was part of overall decline. They all believed it to be detrimental. Three groups of responses were identified: promoting, accepting and ameliorating. Supportive measures included offering equipment to support drinking, staff being present and communicating about expectations and care management aims. Conclusions: There is potential to improve family members' experiences through re-conceptualisation of diminishing drinking aligned to their experiences, supporting family members by listening to their experiences with insight and strengthening their agency within the management of their relatives with diminishing drinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background In response to COVID-19 there have been lockdowns and restrictions to hospitality services. Drinking behaviours often change in response to traumatic events and changes in the drinking environment, and this is influenced by a range of factors. This study explores self-reported changes in alcohol consumption in the third month of the UK lockdown, associations with socio-demographics factors and with COVID-19-related concerns, and mental health and wellbeing. Methods The COVID-19 Psychological Wellbeing Study was a longitudinal, online, three-wave survey of 1958 UK adults. Data were collected during the first UK lockdown; wave 1 launched 23 March 2020, wave 2 was 1 month after and wave 3 2 months after completion of wave 1A hierarchical multinomial regression model was estimated to investigate factors associated with changes in perceived alcohol consumption in the third month of the lockdown. Results The majority of participants reported changes in drinking (62%) with over one-third indicating increased consumption. Student status and worries about the financial implications of COVID-19 were associated with lower odds of decreased alcohol consumption. Those with above average income and those with children in the household had lower odds of increased alcohol consumption, while younger adults had higher odds of increased alcohol consumption. Conclusions This study adds to the growing body of research showing changes in alcohol consumption behaviours during the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, and identifies risk and protective factors which can aid in targeting intervention at those most in need of support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "Developing a Social Practice-Based Typology of British Drinking Culture in 2009-2011: Implications for Alcohol Policy Analyses" by A.K. Ally, M. Lovatt, P.S. Meier, A. Brennan, and J. Holmes in volume 111 of f the periodical.

UK society has a complex relationship with alcohol; it is ever-present within social activities, yet alcohol problems are heavily stigmatised. As such, the nuance of acceptability is a key focus for understanding societal perceptions and understandings of alcohol. This research explored how the boundary between acceptable and problematic alcohol use was negotiated in justifying drinking behaviors. The paper draws upon data from two World Cafés and five focus groups conducted in the UK with 76 participants including 25 males and 51 females aged 18 to 82. Data was analysed using discursive psychology with a focus on how participants disclosed and accounted for alcohol consumption. The analysis highlighted two key discursive patterns: 1) Speakers created an interactionally-specific boundary of acceptable alcohol use. 2) Speakers built upon this boundary, justifying and portraying their own drinking as socially acceptable. The boundary of acceptable alcohol use was locally constructed and shifted between speakers and contexts. This locally occasioned boundary demonstrates the challenge of objective guidance - such as the UK Chief Medical Officer's unit guidelines - in relation to individualistic behaviors. Implications are discussed for how alcohol policy, health campaigns, and alcohol practitioners may consider this orientation to justifying drinking behaviors to make alcohol reduction efforts more effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prenatal alcohol exposure has been linked to a host of negative outcomes, although it is largely unknown whether prenatal exposure leads to an earlier age of initiation of alcohol use or exacerbates early alcohol initiation. The current study examined whether adolescents exposed to heavy drinking during gestation began drinking earlier than their nonexposed peers and whether an earlier age of alcohol reexposure in adolescence exacerbated associations with adverse alcohol outcomes. Methods: Adolescents (17 years of age; 57% female; 96% White) from a longitudinal, population‐based cohort study, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, reported on the age they first consumed a whole drink and other alcohol behaviors. Adolescents' mothers also reported on their own heavy drinking during pregnancy (i.e., any consumption of 4+ U.K. units in a drinking day at either 18 or 32 weeks of gestation). Results: Survival analyses indicated that prenatal heavy drinking exposure was not associated with an earlier initiation of alcohol use after controlling for potential demographic and parental mental health and substance use confounds. Generalized negative binomial models demonstrated that prenatal heavy drinking exposure moderated associations of the age of alcohol initiation with alcohol quantity and heavy drinking frequency (but not alcohol frequency or Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test score), after controlling for the same demographic and parental confounds. Specifically, earlier alcohol initiation was associated with more adverse alcohol outcomes regardless of prenatal exposure. However, the protective associations of delayed alcohol initiation were lower among adolescents exposed to prenatal heavy drinking. Conclusions: This study provides evidence for the interplay between prenatal and postnatal alcohol exposures. Importantly, adolescents who were prenatally exposed to heavy drinking appeared to be less protected by later alcohol initiation than those who were not exposed in utero. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Alcohol consumption is influenced by the characteristics of drinking occasions, for example, location, timing, or the composition of the drinking group. However, the relative importance of occasion characteristics is not yet well understood. This study aims to identify which characteristics, and combinations of characteristics, are associated with units consumed within drinking occasions. It also tests whether accounting for occasion characteristics improves the prediction of consumption compared to using demographic information only. Methods: The data come from a cross‐sectional, nationally representative, online market research survey. Our sample includes 18,409 British drinkers aged 18 + who recorded the characteristics of 46,072 drinking occasions using 7‐day retrospective drinking diaries in 2018. We used decision tree modeling and nested linear regression to predict units consumed in occasions using information on drinking location/venue, occasion timing, company, occasion type (e.g., a quiet night in), occasion motivation, drink type and packaging, food eaten and entertainment/ other activities during the occasion. We estimated models separately for 6 age‐sex groups and controlled for usual drinking frequency, and social grade in nested linear regression models. Open Science Framework preregistration: https://osf.io/42epd. Results: Our 6 final models accounted for between 55% and 71% of the variance in drinking occasion alcohol consumption. Beyond demographic characteristics (1 to 9%) and occasion duration (24 to 60%), further occasion characteristics and combinations of characteristics accounted for 31 to 70% of the total explained variance. The characteristics most strongly associated with heavy alcohol consumption were long occasion duration, drinking spirits as doubles, and drinking wine. Spirits were also consumed in light occasions, but as singles. This suggests that the serving size is an important differentiator of light and heavy occasions. Conclusions: Combinations of occasion duration and drink type are strongly predictive of alcohol consumption in adults' drinking occasions. Accounting for characteristics of drinking occasions, both individually and in combination, substantially improves the prediction of alcohol consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the contentious definition and communication of alcohol consumption limits and their relationship to ideas about risk through an analysis of the development of health education materials during the 1980s. It argues that changing ideas about alcohol and risk, and their communication to the public, were a reflection of both specific developments in thinking about alcohol and the harm it could pose as well as broader shifts within public health policy, practice and outlook. Risk was understood as something experienced by individuals and populations, a conceptual framing that suggested different approaches. To get to grips with these issues, the article focuses on: (1) the definition of alcohol consumption limits; (2) the communication of these limits; and (3) the limits to limits. The problems experienced in defining and communicating limits suggests not only a 'limit to limits' but also to the entire notion of risk-based 'sensible' drinking as a strategy for health education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Information provided on glass labels may be an effective method to reduce alcohol consumption. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of glass labels conveying unit information and a health warning in reducing ad libitum alcohol consumption. Methods: A cluster‐randomized experimental study was conducted to measure the efficacy of a labeled glass in reducing alcohol consumption in a semi naturalistic bar laboratory setting, in a sample of 81 pairs (n = 162) of UK young adult drinkers. Pairs were randomized to receive two 340‐ml glasses of beer or wine: labeled or plain (control). Alcohol consumption was assessed in an ad libitum drinking period, and urge to drink was measured at baseline and postdrinking period. Focus groups (n = 2) were conducted, and thematic analysis was used to gain an insight into the acceptability and the perceived effectiveness of the glasses. Results: Mean unit consumption was 1.62 (SD ± 0.83) units in the labeled glass condition and 1.69 (SD ± 0.82) units in the non labeled glass condition. There were no significant effects of the labeled glasses on ad libitum alcohol consumption (95% CI −0.25 to 0.37, p = 0.35), despite participants (85%) noticing the information. Qualitative analysis of focus groups indicated that although participants perceived the glasses as a useful tool for increasing awareness of units and guidelines, they were viewed as limited in their potential to change drinking behavior due to the unappealing design of the glass and a view that unit guidelines were not relevant to drinking patterns or contexts. Conclusions: Labeled glasses did not change alcohol consumption in the current study, potentially due to ineffectiveness of this type of message in a young adult population. The information on the glasses was attended to, highlighting that glasses could be a feasible tool for providing information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background There is concern around alcohol consumption in mid to later life yet little understanding about what influences this behaviour. No previous research has explored the extent to which adults in mid to later life may be exposed to alcohol references in the media. This project aimed to determine the frequency of alcohol references on radio stations with a high proportion of listeners in mid to later life. Methods Content analysis of alcohol references on four popular UK music-based radio stations with a high proportion of listeners aged 55–64 years over three time points. Results Alcohol references occur frequently, but vary by time of year and type of radio station. When alcohol is mentioned its consumption is portrayed as the norm, without negative consequences. On three commercial stations, the majority of mentions came from advertising, whereas on BBC Radio 2 nearly all references were talk-based. All adverts for direct promotion of alcohol were by supermarkets. Alcohol was frequently associated with celebrations, socializing or something to consume for its own sake. Conclusions Adults in the age group 55–64 may be exposed to references to alcohol that could serve to reinforce norms of consumption of alcohol and promote purchases of cheap alcohol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:Scores on temporal psychology measures continue to be associated with alcohol-related problems; however, few studies have examined these associations using more than one temporal psychology instrument. This omission is potentially problematic as not all instruments measure the same dimensions of temporal psychology. The present study aimed to address this gap in the literature. Methods:Participants (N = 410) were opportunistically sampled from a University in the United Kingdom and completed the following questionnaires: The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test; The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; The Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory; The Temporal Focus Scale; The Adolescent Time Inventory-Time Attitudes Scale; and The Consideration of Future Consequences Scale-14. Results:Results showed weak to moderate correlations (with one exception, CFC-F and ZTPI-F) between scores on the various temporal scales, indicating that they measure related but distinct constructs. Structural equation modelling and linear regression revealed that AUDIT scores were most strongly associated with present hedonism, symptoms of anxiety were most strongly associated with negative feelings about the present, and symptoms of depression were more moderately associated with a broader range of indicators. Conclusions:Cognitive and affective dimensions of temporal psychology relate differently to different health outcomes, and researchers need to be explicit and clear in reporting findings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background and aims Studies that report the relationship between alcohol consumption and disease risk have predominantly operationalized drinking according to a single baseline measure. The resulting assumption of longitudinal stability may be simplistic and complicate interpretation of risk estimates. This study aims to describe changes to the volume of consumption during the adult life-course according to baseline categories of drinking. Design A prospective observational study. Setting United Kingdom. Participants A cohort of British civil servants totalling 6838 men and 3372 women aged 34-55 years at baseline, followed for a mean 19.1 (standard deviation = 9.5) years. Measurements The volume of weekly alcohol consumption was estimated from data concerning the frequency and number of drinks consumed. Baseline categories were defined: non-current drinkers, infrequent drinkers, 0.1-50.0 g/week, 50.1-100.0 g/week, 100.1-150.0 g/week, 150.1-250.0 g/week and >250.0 g/week. For women, the highest category was defined as > 100.0 g/week. Baseline frequency was derived as 'daily or almost daily' and 'not daily or almost daily'. Trajectories were estimated within baseline categories using growth curve models. Findings Trajectories differed between men and women, but were relatively stable within light-to-moderate categories of baseline consumption. Drinking was least stable within the highest categories of baseline consumption (men: > 250.0 g/week; women: > 100.0 g/week), declining by 47.0 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 40.7, 53.2] and 16.8 g/week (95% CI = 12.6, 21.0), respectively, per 10-year increase in age. These declines were not a consequence of sudden transitions to complete abstention. Rates of decline appear greatest in older age, with trajectories converging toward moderate volumes. Conclusion Among UK civil servants, consumption within baseline drinking categories is generally stable during the life-course, except among heavier baseline drinkers, for whom intakes decline with increasing age. This shift does not appear to be driven by transitions to non-drinking. Cohorts of older people may be at particular risk of misclassifying former heavy drinkers as moderate consumers of alcohol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with various surveys in Great Britain on the health effects of sugar consumption. Topics discussed include a survey on the ability of people to identify added sugars (AS) and their awareness of the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on sugar intake and the free sugars (FS) and calorie content from manufacturers' packaging and labels of carbonated sugar-sweetened beverages (CSSB) available in major British supermarkets.

Background Data-driven student drinking norms interventions are based on reported normative overestimation of the extent and approval of an average student's drinking. Self-reported differences between personal and perceived normative drinking behaviors and attitudes are taken at face value as evidence of actual levels of overestimation. This study investigates whether commonly used data collection methods and socially desirable responding (SDR) may inadvertently impede establishing 'objective' drinking norms. Methods U.K. students ( N = 421; 69% female; mean age 20.22 years [ SD = 2.5]) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 versions of a drinking norms questionnaire: The standard multi-target questionnaire assessed respondents' drinking attitudes and behaviors (frequency of consumption, heavy drinking, units on a typical occasion) as well as drinking attitudes and behaviors for an 'average student.' Two deconstructed versions of this questionnaire assessed identical behaviors and attitudes for participants themselves or an 'average student.' The Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding was also administered. Results Students who answered questions about themselves and peers reported more extreme perceived drinking attitudes for the average student compared with those reporting solely on the 'average student.' Personal and perceived reports of drinking behaviors did not differ between multitarget and single-target versions of the questionnaire. Among those who completed the multitarget questionnaire, after controlling for demographics and weekly drinking, SDR was related positively with the magnitude of difference between students' own reported behaviors/attitudes and those perceived for the average student. Conclusions Standard methodological practices and socially desirable responding may be sources of bias in peer norm overestimation research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To conduct a systematic review of studies exploring the relationship between exposure to Internet-based alcohol-related content and alcohol use among young people. Methods: Searches of electronic databases and reference lists of relevant articles were conducted to retrieve studies of relevance up until December 2015. Full texts of the studies that met the inclusion criteria were read, appraised for quality using the Kmet forms and guidelines, and included in this review. Results: Fifteen relevant studies were identified. The included studies were a mix of cross-sectional, longitudinal, experimental and qualitative studies conducted in the USA, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. The age range of the participants involved in these studies was 12–25 years. Included studies employed a variety of study designs and a range of different exposure variables and outcome measures. Studies demonstrated significant associations between exposure to Internet-based alcohol-related content and intentions to drink and positive attitudes towards alcohol drinking among young people. Conclusion: Exposure to alcohol-related content on the Internet might predispose young people to patterns of alcohol use by promoting alcohol as a natural and vital part of life. However, the research exploring the influence of this novel form of advertising on young people’s alcohol use is emergent, and comprised primarily of cross-sectional studies. To evaluate the direction of the association between exposure to online alcohol-related content and alcohol use, we call for further research based on longitudinal designs. Short summary: From 15 relevant studies identified, this review reports significant associations between exposure to Internet-based alcohol-related content and intentions to drink and positive attitudes towards alcohol drinking among young people, with different influences found at different stages of alcohol use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Concerns have been raised about the impact of alcohol sports sponsorship on harmful consumption, with some countries banning this practice or considering a ban. We review evidence on the relationship between exposure to alcohol sports sponsorship and alcohol consumption. Methods: Search of electronic databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar and International Alcohol Information Database) supplemented by hand searches of references and conference proceedings to locate studies providing data on the impact of exposure to alcohol sports sponsorship and outcomes relating to alcohol consumption. Results: Seven studies met inclusion criteria, presenting data on 12,760 participants from Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Poland. All studies report positive associations between exposure to alcohol sports sponsorship and self-reported alcohol consumption, but the statistical significance of results varies. Two studies found indirect exposure to alcohol sports sponsorship was associated with increased levels of drinking amongst schoolchildren, and five studies found a positive association between direct alcohol sports sponsorship and hazardous drinking amongst adult sportspeople. Conclusion: These findings corroborate the results of previous systematic reviews that reported a positive association between exposure to alcohol marketing and alcohol consumption. The relationship between alcohol sports sponsorship and increased drinking amongst schoolchildren will concern policymakers. Further research into the effectiveness of restrictions on alcohol sports sponsorship in reducing harmful drinking is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: There is evidence that alcohol is strongly correlated with offending. This qualitative study explored the views of staff on the efficacy of alcohol brief interventions within a prison setting. The perceptions of prisoners in relation to non-dependent drinking were also examined. Methods: Nine prisons in one English region took part in this research. Five focus groups with 25 prisoners were undertaken with prisoners alongside focus group discussions with 30 professionals. Discussions were recorded using shorthand notation and the main themes were thematically mapped using visual mapping techniques. Findings: The use of the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) was perceived as problematic. Prisoner drinking norms differed widely from community consumption patterns. There were also operational issues that reduced the salience of a brief intervention for prisoners. Conclusions: The delivery of screening and brief interventions within a prison setting is highly nuanced and fraught with inconsistencies. Despite these challenges, there are opportunities to develop coherent and tailored brief interventions for a custodial environment that should focus on developing three key areas around: (a) interventions for the point of release; (b) enhanced content around family impact and offending; and (c) forward-looking goal-setting as motivational tools to facilitate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims The concept of national drinking culture is well established in research and policy debate, but rarely features in contemporary alcohol policy analysis. We aim to demonstrate the value of the alternative concept of social practices for quantitatively operationalizing drinking culture. We discuss how a practice perspective addresses limitations in existing analytical approaches to health-related behaviour before demonstrating its empirical application by constructing a statistical typology of British drinking occasions. Design Cross-sectional latent class analysis of drinking occasions derived from retrospective 1-week drinking diaries obtained from quota samples of a market research panel. Occasions are periods of drinking with no more than 2 hours between drinks. Setting Great Britain, 2009-11. Cases A total of 187 878 occasions nested within 60 215 nationally representative adults (aged 18 + years). Measurements Beverage type and quantity per occasion; location, company and gender composition of company; motivation and reason for occasion; day, start-time and duration of occasion; and age, sex and social grade. Findings Eight occasion types are derived based primarily on parsimony considerations rather than model fit statistics. These are mixed location heavy drinking (10.4% of occasions), heavy drinking at home with a partner (9.4%), going out with friends (11.1%), get-together at someone's house (14.4%), going out for a meal (8.6%), drinking at home alone (13.6%), light drinking at home with family (12.8%) and light drinking at home with a partner (19.6%). Conclusions An empirical model of drinking culture, comprising a typology of drinking practices, reveals the dominance of moderate drinking practices in Great Britain. The model demonstrates the potential for a practice perspective to be used in evaluation of how and why drinking cultures change in response to public health interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Alcohol consumption patterns change across life and this is not fully captured in cross-sectional series data. Analysis of longitudinal data, with repeat alcohol measures, is necessary to reveal changes within the same individuals as they age. Such data are scarce and few studies are able to capture multiple decades of the life course. Therefore, we examined alcohol consumption trajectories, reporting both average weekly volume and frequency, using data from cohorts with repeated measures that cover different and overlapping periods of life. Methods: Data were from nine UK-based prospective cohorts with at least three repeated alcohol consumption measures on individuals (combined sample size of 59,397 with 174,666 alcohol observations), with data spanning from adolescence to very old age (90 years plus). Information on volume and frequency of drinking were harmonised across the cohorts. Predicted volume of alcohol by age was estimated using random effect multilevel models fitted to each cohort. Quadratic and cubic polynomial terms were used to describe non-linear age trajectories. Changes in drinking frequency by age were calculated from observed data within each cohort and then smoothed using locally weighted scatterplot smoothing. Models were fitted for men and women separately. Results: We found that, for men, mean consumption rose sharply during adolescence, peaked at around 25 years at 20 units per week, and then declined and plateaued during mid-life, before declining from around 60 years. A similar trajectory was seen for women, but with lower overall consumption (peak of around 7 to 8 units per week). Frequent drinking (daily or most days of the week) became more common during mid to older age, most notably among men, reaching above 50% of men. Conclusions: This is the first attempt to synthesise longitudinal data on alcohol consumption from several overlapping cohorts to represent the entire life course and illustrates the importance of recognising that this behaviour is dynamic. The aetiological findings from epidemiological studies using just one exposure measure of alcohol, as is typically done, should be treated with caution. Having a better understanding of how drinking changes with age may help design intervention strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims To investigate whether the effects of family conflict on adolescent drinking differed as a function of 5-hydroxy tryptamine transporter-linked polymorphic region ( 5- HTTLPR) genotype cross-sectionally and prospectively in two independent samples of adolescents. Design Path analysis and multi-group analysis of two prospective datasets were conducted. Settings United States and United Kingdom. Participants Sample 1 was 175 adolescents in the United States (mean age = 15 at times 1 and 2 with a 6-month interval); Sample 2 was 4916 adolescents in the United Kingdon (mean age = 12 at time 1 and 15 at time 2). Measurements In both samples, demographics, tri-allelic 5- HTTLPR genotype and perceived family conflict were assessed at time 1. Alcohol use (frequency of drinking) and alcohol misuse (frequency of intoxication, frequency of drinking three or more drinks, maximum number of drinks) were assessed at times 1 and 2. Findings A significant gene-environment interaction on alcohol misuse at time 1 was found in both sample 1 (β = 0.57, P = 0.001) and sample 2 (β = 0.19, P = 0.01), indicating that the 5- HTTLPR low-activity allele carriers exposed to higher levels of family conflict were more likely to engage in alcohol misuse than non-carriers. A significant gene-environment interaction effect on change in alcohol misuse over time was found only in sample 1 (β = 0.48, P = 0.04) but not in sample 2. Conclusions Compared with non-carriers, adolescents carrying the 5- HTTLPR low-activity allele are more susceptible to the effects of family conflict on alcohol misuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports the separate studies on whether postmenopausal women who increase their alcohol intake over five years have higher risk of breast cancer and lower risk of coronary heart disease than those who maintain a stable alcohol intake, and whether the consumption of fruit and vegetables in adolescence increases the risk of breast cancer in premenopausal and postmenopausal women. Based on the result, higher consumption of fruits can lower the risk of breast cancer.