Changes in the public perceptions of the health benefits of alcohol use, 1989 to 1994

Alcohol consumption and quality of life among young adults: a comparison among three European countries

The study aims to investigate the relationship between alcohol consumption and quality of life (QoL) on a representative sample of adults aged 25-34 living in France, Italy, and the Netherlands (4,841 subjects). The data was collected in 2008 using telephone interviews and analyzed with cluster analysis using Ward's method. Results show that the impact of alcohol consumption on QoL depends mainly on predominant consumption style and drinking culture that should be investigated further to identify protective factors.

Moderate alcohol consumption as a mediator of mother's behaviour towards her child

AIM

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of moderate drinking on mother's behaviour towards her child.

METHOD

The European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood (ELSPAC) survey sample consisted of 3,569 Czech women, who were interviewed when their children were 18 months old. There were three areas related to mother child relationship investigated: hygiene, activities with the child, and the mother's emotional relationship with the child. Besides alcohol consumption, we also evaluated the mother's neuroticisms.

RESULTS

Our results suggest that the behaviour of moderate drinking mothers differs from the behaviour of abstaining mothers. The abstinents express more emotions for the child, they handle better the demands of maternity and pay more attention to needs for child's educative activities. Significant differences were not noticed in the frequency of physical activities with the child (cuddling, physical playing, walks).

CONCLUSION

Our data supports the assumption that moderate drinking of a mother is disadvantageous for the child as compared to abstinence. The abstinents display a higher level of concern about the child.

The effects of light and moderate-heavy ethanol exposure on the development of cirrhosis in rats

Daily, light ethanol consumption has beneficial effects on liver recovery following partial hepatectomy and acute liver failure in rats. The aim of the present study was to determine whether such consumption has a beneficial, deleterious, or no effect on the progression of chronic hepatitis to cirrhosis in rats. Adult, male, Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 66) were gavaged with light (1.0 g/kg/day) or moderate-heavy (3.0 g/kg) ethanol in water daily for the final 8 weeks of a 10-week period of thioacetamide-induced cirrhosis. Control rats were gavaged with water alone. Compared to results in water-fed controls, light-ethanol exposure had beneficial or no effects, while moderate-heavy ethanol exposure had deleterious effects on hepatic inflammation, function, regenerative activity, and fibrosis. The results of this study indicate that daily, light ethanol exposure does not have a deleterious effect on the progression of chronic liver disease to cirrhosis in this animal model.

Stress and alcohol drinking

The concept of stress-relief by alcohol has led to many investigations in order to elucidate the mechanisms of interactions of stress and alcohol, and the stress-reducing effect of alcohol as a motivation for alcohol consumption. The hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) system is one of the biological systems affected by both stress and alcohol. However, there is a high individual variation in the response of the HPA axis to either stress or alcohol. Factors like quality, severity and duration of stress, dose of alcohol and frequency of stress or alcohol exposure add to the individual response to stress or alcohol. The individual response is determined by interactions of genetic, environmental and experiential factors. Facing that complexity, with even more factors to be named, the often reported inconsistencies in both human and animal studies are not only attributable to methodological differences. Nevertheless, there are studies showing an influence of stress on alcohol consumption which most likely depends on the sample of probands examined. To our view, the concept of stress-relief by alcohol as a basic motivation for developing alcohol drinking habits is only applicable to subgroups of drinkers. Individuals with a dysfunctional HPA axis, inherited and/or acquired, might represent such a subgroup of stress-motivated drinkers.

Beliefs about the cardiovascular benefits of drinking wine in the adult population of Ontario

AIMS

to explore beliefs about the cardiovascular benefits of drinking wine in the Ontario population.

DESIGN

secondary analysis of data from a provincial survey of adults.

PARTICIPANTS

Ontarians aged 18 or older (n = 606) from Ontario living in households and participating in a telephone survey.

MEASURES

responses to questions concerning beliefs that wine drinking may reduce the risk of heart disease. Self-reports of age, gender, quantity and frequency of wine drinking, drinking problems, and existence of a diagnosis of heart disease.

FINDINGS

a majority of respondents believed that wine drinking reduces heart disease. Almost all (87.6%) said that drinking one or two drinks a day would reduce heart disease. Belief in the health benefits of wine drinking was more common among men, more frequent drinkers, and wine drinkers.

CONCLUSIONS

beliefs in the health benefits of wine drinking is common amongst Ontario adults and is consistent with many recommendations by health authorities. The study should be replicated with larger samples in a variety of countries with different drinking patterns.

The effectiveness of strategies such as health warning labels to reduce alcohol-related harms - an Australian perspective

The efficacy of health warning labels for products such as alcoholic beverages continue to be debated internationally and now in Australia as a means of mitigating the misuse of alcohol within community groups. This paper discusses evidence emanating primarily from the USA that has adopted a health warning label for both alcohol and tobacco, and from Australia that has adopted a health warning label for tobacco, on the effectiveness of such a strategy in changing consumer behaviour. The conclusion drawn is that such labelling is generally ineffective in changing consumer behaviour and hence such a strategy is inappropriate for reducing alcohol-related harms. The paper also discusses briefly what advertising and messages influence consumers, positively and negatively, and what specific strategies have been shown to better educate consumers and change their consumption from excessive to light to moderate as defined by the (Australian) National Health and Medical Research Council, which is the present premise of harm minimisation in Australia.

Light ethanol consumption enhances liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy in rats

BACKGROUND & AIMS

The effects of "social drinking" on the liver have yet to be fully documented. The aim of this study was to document the effects of daily light, moderate, and heavy ethanol exposure on hepatic regenerative activity in the rat.

METHODS

Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats underwent daily gavages with 1.0 (light), 2. 0 (moderate), or 4.0 (heavy) g/kg of ethanol or tap water (controls) for 30 days before 70% partial hepatectomy (PHx). Hepatic regenerative activity was then documented on days 1, 3, 5, and 7 after PHx.

RESULTS

Compared with controls, restitution of liver mass, [(3)H]thymidine incorporation, and proliferating cell nuclear antigen expression were decreased in the heavy (-10%, -60%, and -36%, respectively), unchanged in the moderate (-4%, -8%, and -16%, respectively), and increased in the light (+6%, +38%, and +29%, respectively) ethanol groups. Messenger RNA differential display of resected livers at PHx identified a band present only in the light ethanol group that encodes a unique 47-kilodalton protein with growth-promoting features designated light ethanol-induced stimulatory protein.

CONCLUSIONS

The results indicate that light ethanol consumption enhances hepatic regenerative activity after PHx in rats. Further studies are required to determine the mechanism involved and whether social drinking has beneficial or adverse effects on the natural history of acute or chronic liver disease in humans.

Exploring psychological benefits associated with moderate alcohol use: a necessary corrective to assessments of drinking outcomes?

The aim of this paper is to identify positive psychological concomitants of moderate alcohol consumption. Current research and public-health perspectives on alcohol emphasize harms disproportionately relative to benefits. The major exception is research establishing beneficial effects of moderate drinking on cardiovascular health and overall mortality. In addition, much observational and experiential data suggest the widespread prevalence of positive drinking experiences. This paper is one of the first attempts since 1985 to codify such benefits in epidemiological terms. Methodological difficulties in accomplishing this include defining moderate drinking, controlling for confounding variables, and establishing causality. Nonetheless, evidence of psychological benefits has been found in experimental, observational, interview, self-report, correlational, and some prospective research. These positive findings are in the areas of subjective health, mood enhancement, stress reduction, sociability, social integration, mental health, long-term cognitive functioning, and work income/disability. Problem drinkers and alcoholics also seek mood and other benefits from alcohol, but are more likely to drink to counteract negative feelings and to support their egos than are social drinkers. It is as yet impossible to determine to what extent moderate alcohol consumption causes positive psychological outcomes and to what extent it is part of a complex pattern of mutually reinforcing variables.