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Minimum alcohol pricing would save 860 lives a year, study finds
Report claims making stronger drinks more expensive per unit would affect 'harmful drinkers' and not penalise responsible drinkers

Introducing minimum pricing for alcohol would lead to 860 fewer deaths a year and 29,900 fewer hospital admissions among heavy-drinkers while having only a slight effect on moderate drinkers, according to research into the policy's impact.

The study, from Sheffield University, predicts that making stronger drinks more expensive, through a price of 45p per unit of alcohol, would impact those who drink most heavily and are on low incomes. They would reduce their drinking and reap a health benefit, with fewer alcohol-related deaths and illness.

In March 2012, David Cameron announced that the government would bring in minimum unit pricing, saying he thought it was "a big part of the answer" to binge drinking and alcohol harm. But last July, the government performed a U-turn and ditched the plans. Last week, it moved to ban "deep discounting" instead. This will prevent supermarkets slashing the prices of alcohol to below cost price, which has sometimes made alcohol cheaper than bottled water.

Campaigners say that attacks on deep discounting will have little effect on the nation's heavy drinking problems. The Alcohol Health Alliance, an umbrella organisation including charities and doctors' organisations, said the impact would be negligible, affecting just 1% of sales in shops and supermarkets and doing nothing to reduce the appeal of strong drinks targeted at the young.

The new modelling study, published in the Lancet medical journal, shows that heavy drinkers at high risk of accidents and deteriorating health would be most affected by a 45p minimum price. They buy large quantities of low-cost alcohol, while moderate drinkers will buy less of the cheap booze and more with a higher price tag.

The effect would be greatest among the 5% of the population classified as harmful drinkers - men who put back more than 50 units a week and women who drink more than 35 units. This can be daily drinking or binge drinking.

The model predicts that 75% of the resultant fall in drinking from a minimum unit price of 45p would be among these harmful drinkers, which would cut the number of deaths by 860 a year and hospital admissions by 29,900.

Harmful drinkers on low incomes would be squeezed most of all. They spend on average just under £2,700 a year on alcohol, 40% of which at the moment costs them less than 45p a unit. The model predicts that they would cut down by nearly 300 units a year.

The impact on the moderate drinker would be slight by comparison, the study shows. Moderate drinkers on low incomes do not buy much cheap alcohol - less than one unit a week under 45p. They would not cut down by much - only the equivalent of about two pints of beer a year, say the researchers, and spend just 4p more.

Moderate drinkers as a whole -– across all income groups – are predicted to forgo the equivalent of one pint of beer a year and spend 78p more.

According to the study's lead author, Dr John Holmes: "Overall, the impact of a minimum unit price policy on moderate drinkers would be very small, irrespective of income. The policy would mainly affect harmful drinkers, and it is the low income harmful drinkers – who purchase more alcohol below the minimum unit price threshold than any other group – who would be most affected. Policymakers need to balance larger reductions in consumption by harmful drinkers on a low income against the large health gains that could be experienced in this group from reductions in alcohol-related illness and death."

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copia integrale del testo si può trovare al seguente link:
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/10/minimum-alcohol-pricing-save-860-lives-study

(Articolo pubblicato dal CUFRAD sul sito www.alcolnews.it)