Up to 600 000 russian die every year from alcohol-related causes. This is the conclusion in a study published in The Lancet. “Excessive alcohol consumption in Russia, particularly by men, has in several recent years caused more than half of all the deaths at ages of 15-54 years,” the Lancet article said. Russian men has a life expectancy of 59 years, and alcohol in believed to be a major cause of this low figure. Alexander Nemtsov, a department chief at the Moscow Research Institute of Psychiatry, says to Reuter that …

Norwegian womens level of drinking is soon equal with men, shows a new report from the The Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research. Young adult women in Oslo, the capital, drinks the most. Even though men still drink more than women, the difference has decreased. The percentage that are abstainers are stable, but those who drink are doing it more often and more.
Mimicking men
- Women are “mimicking” men. Since the male drinking pattern are more accepted in society, women takes after mens drinking habits, and not the other way …

The discussion about minimum alcohol pricing in Britain goes on. Prime minister Gordon Brown has earlier said that this was out of the quesion since it after his opinon would “punish the majority of responsible drinkers”. But several researcher now says that a measure like this would be effective in curbing alcohol consumption in Britain. A moderate drinker would not be very affected by a minimum price. Researchers at Sheffield University says that a 50p per unit minimum would add just £12 a year to the drinks bill of …

The European Commission has started up a project trying to reach young people, and encourage them to be active partners in promoting their health.
The chief aim of the project is
* To prioritise the health of children and young people in Europe.
* To highlight important health-related youth issues that the Commission is working on, including healthy life-styles, education, workplace, media and healthy environments.
A website has been set up here.
A 2-day conference will be held in Brussels in cooperationm with the European Youth Forum on 9 july. Around 400 people are …

DG Sanco released on april 6th a report concerning the affordability of alcoholic producs across Europe, and of the potential impacts of affordability on harmful use of alcohol. The report was conducted by Rand, a nonprofit research organisation, for the European Commission.
The major findings in the report is
There has been a decline in the real value of alcohol excise duty rates across the EU
The real value of excise duty rates for most alcoholic beverages has gone down since 1996 in the vast majority of EU Member States. Notable exceptions are …