Good practice principles low rik drinking EU RARHA

The Standard Drink concept and consumer information on alcoholic beverages
The concept of Standard Drink or unit of alcohol is used as a means of providing information to drinkers
to help them measure their own alcohol consumption. It is often used to describe alcohol intake levels
when communicating public authorities’ guidelines regarding low risk drinking. The SD or unit is
defined as an amount of any alcoholic drink that contains a given number of grams of pure alcohol. In
European countries the most common value is 10g, followed by 12g of pure alcohol. Despite a
seemingly simple definition and a fair level of awareness of the SD/unit concept, evidence from various
countries indicates that drinkers’ understanding of what these terms actually mean and their ability to
apply these measures are limited. Cross-country variation in the sizes of national SD drinks adds to the
complexity. As information is increasingly accessible across country and language borders,
discrepancies in SD information and low risk drinking guidelines expressed in SDs may lead to
miscommunication of research findings and health advice.
According to information gathered in Joint Action RARHA, there is wide support among public
health, addiction and policy experts for agreeing on a common EU definition of Standard Drink. Given
the current variation in the national definitions, it is unclear whether adopting a single definition would
be feasible. In addition, there are grounds to argue that the SD size for any given country should reflect
the most common container or serving size in that country. In the Single EU Market the lack of a
common SD definition may also be an obstacle to requiring on alcoholic beverage containers a
statement on the number of SDs contained in it, although such information might help drinkers
calculate and monitor their consumption. A feasible alternative is to indicate the alcohol content in a
bottle, can or box of drink in grams of pure alcohol. This information could easily be linked with a
national SD definition and low risk drinking guidelines specified in grams of pure alcohol.
At the moment, only minimal health relevant information is provided on alcoholic beverage
packages in the EU. There is a wide call among experts and the general public for further information
on health related aspects of alcoholic beverages, in particular their calorie content, and also for
mandatory messages about health or safety risks to be included on both alcoholic beverage packages
and on alcohol advertisements. Obtaining information on the health implications of consuming
alcoholic beverages is the consumer’s right, and on-pack information is a potentially effective approach
for filling in gaps in information, in particular when used as part of comprehensive communication and
public health activities.
Guidance to reduce alcohol-related harm for young people
As young people are particularly vulnerable to harm from alcohol, guidelines for reducing alcoholrelated
harm among young people were addressed in a separate study within RARHA. Information
about current advice provided to young people, parents or professionals in European countries was
gathered and used to develop a Delphi survey with a panel of close to 60 European experts identified by
members of the EU Committee on National Alcohol Policy and Action (CNAPA). The experts were
engaged in research or practical prevention relating to alcohol consumption and young people. The aim
was to explore potential for consensus on priority areas of action and good practice measures for
reducing harm from alcohol for young people.
Alcohol consumption by young people is common across European countries, including drinking to
intoxication, despite a legal framework which does not allow consumption by people under a minimum
age. Currently, the legal age limits are not the same for all EU member states. The majority of youth
experts in the Delphi panel were in favour of aligning the age limits to a minimum of 18 years in all EU
member states.
The majority agreed that guidelines for young people should focus on short-term consequences as
they are more relevant for the young and have a higher impact on their behaviour. As young people
have the right to be fully informed of the risks involved in alcohol consumption, long-term
consequences should also be highlighted. Guidelines addressed to young people aged from 18 to 25
years should focus on reducing harm from binge drinking/heavy episodic drinking. Points of
disagreement among the Delphi panel mostly originated from differences in positions regarding
drinking by under-18s. While some experts strictly promoted zero tolerance for under-18s, others
supported a risk-minimizing approach for those who do drink.
Compliance with legal age limits in European countries in general is not satisfactory. Organized
and regular enforcement is known to be effective for increasing compliance. A widely shared view
among the experts was that for promoting awareness and enforcement of age limits, an integrated
alcohol policy with a combination of structural and individual prevention measures is needed rather
9
Good practice principles for low risk drinking guidelines