Good practice principles low rik drinking EU RARHA

link health messages to EU or national drinking guidelines based on consumption measured in grams of
pure alcohol.
Measuring personal alcohol consumption
The majority of respondents believed that the adoption of an EU agreed SD definition would help
consumers measure personal alcohol consumption which would contribute to lower risk consumption.
Five respondents did not consider an agreed SD definition helpful for measuring personal consumption.
The reasons included a lack of uniformity of a SD measure and a variety of classic beverage sizes across
countries and regions which could render an agreed definition ineffective. It could take a long time for
cultural acceptance of a common definition.
Support for a common concept among the RARHA Delphi expert panel
Questions about the usefulness of a common definition of Standard Drink were also put to the panel of
public health and addiction experts participating in the RARHA Delphi survey.[7] The replies showed
substantial support for agreeing on a common definition. (Graph 2)
Graph 2. Support among public health and addiction experts for agreeing on a common definition of
Standard Drink [ 7 ]
Would you be for or against agreeing on a common definition of standard drink
Round 1 (N=38)
Round 2 (N=39)
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Totally in favour Somewhat in favour Undecided Somewhat against Totally against
The two most widely supported arguments in favour of moving towards a common definition
highlighted consumer information: agreeing on a common definition would widen the reach of
consumer information campaigns while decreasing the possibility of misunderstanding, and it would
bring added value by drawing attention to the amount of pure alcohol contained in various types of
beverages.
The main arguments against a common definition, supported by fewer than one third of
respondents, highlighted challenges in putting the common definition into practice: for consumers to
have a concrete understanding of the Standard Drink it needs to be adapted to the typical serving sizes
in their country, and SD information needs be part of comprehensive consumer information activities.
It was also suggested that rather than trying to agree on a common definition of Standard Drink,
the alcohol content in a container and drinking guidelines could be communicated to the public in
terms of “drinks” without defining the exact size, or by simply using the number of grams of pure
alcohol.
A requirement to indicate on the alcoholic beverage package the number of pure grams alcohol it
contains received among the expert panel wide support which increased from the first to the second
round of the survey. (Graph 3)
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Good practice principles for low risk drinking guidelines