Alcohol companies earned billions from underage drinking in 2016
2021-06-10
(Press-News.org) PISCATAWAY, NJ - Underage youth consumed $17.5 billion worth, or 8.6 percent, of the alcoholic drinks sold in 2016. Products from three alcohol companies--AB Inbev, MillerCoors and Diageo--accounted for nearly half of youth consumption, according to a new study published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
Data collected in a landmark study of youth alcohol consumption by brand enabled the authors to calculate the first estimate in nearly 20 years of the monetary value of youth alcohol consumption. And for the first time, they were able to attribute those revenues to specific companies.
"The alcohol industry has said they don't want minors to drink, but when we counted up the drinks, it was clear that they were making billions of dollars from these sales," said co-lead author Pamela J. Trangenstein, Ph.D., assistant professor of health behavior at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health. "There is a clear disconnect when an industry advocates prevention but then makes billions of dollars from prevention's failure."
Alcohol is the number one drug used among people ages 12 to 20. Although underage consumption has been falling in recent years, alcohol is still responsible for approximately 3,500 deaths per year among people younger than age 21, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Our prior studies have repeatedly shown that youth are exposed to and influenced by alcohol marketing," said co-author David H. Jernigan, Ph.D., professor at Boston University and co-author on the study. "If alcohol companies are truly committed to preventing youth drinking, they should be willing to put these revenues into an independent agency able to address underage drinking without a conflict of interest."
The Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, the science advisory body for Congress, made that recommendation in their 2003 report on underage drinking. In 2006, Congress passed unanimously the first legislation solely devoted to reducing underage drinking. While that legislation authorized $18 million in spending, Congress has never spent the full amount. In fact, Congress recently made permanent the tax break provided to alcohol companies in the 2017 tax cuts.
"Community coalitions in North Carolina and across the country are constantly begging for dollars to support their work on underage drinking," said Trangenstein. "Our study identifies a clear source for that badly needed funding. Families and communities are paying the price, while big alcohol companies are reaping all the benefits."
INFORMATION:
Journal citation: Eck, R. H., Trangenstein, P. J., Siegel, M., & Jernigan, D. H. (2021). Company-specific revenues from underage drinking. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 82, 368-376. doi:10.15288/jsad.2021.82.368
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2021-06-10
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Treating transplant patients with mild to moderate cases of COVID-19 with monoclonal antibodies is safe and helps prevent serious illness, according to a Mayo Clinic study recently published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases. These results are especially important because transplant patients who are infected with COVID-19 have a higher risk of severe illness and death.
"Monoclonal antibody therapy is really important for the transplant population because they are less likely to develop their own immunity. Providing them with these antibodies helps them recover from COVID-19," says Raymund Razonable, M.D., a Mayo Clinic infectious diseases specialist and the study's senior ...
2021-06-10
When herring are filleted, more than half their weight becomes a low-value 'side stream' that never reaches our plates - despite being rich in protein and healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Now, scientists from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed a special dipping solution, with ingredients including rosemary extract and citric acid, which can significantly extend the side streams' shelf life, and increase the opportunities to use them as food.
Techniques for upgrading these side-streams to food products such as minces, protein isolates, hydrolysates and oils are already available today, and offer the chance to reduce the current practices of using them for animal feed, ...
2021-06-10
For over a century, researchers have known about "the bends", a serious condition affecting scuba divers. However, we still know relatively little about its physiological basis. Doctors do not yet have a definitive test for the bends, instead relying on symptoms to diagnose it. A new study in Frontiers in Physiology is the first to investigate genetic changes in divers with this condition, finding that genes involved in inflammation and white blood cell activity are upregulated. The findings cast light on the processes underlying the bends, and may lead to biomarkers that will help doctors to diagnose the condition more precisely.
The bends, more formally known as decompression sickness, is a potentially lethal condition that can affect divers. Symptoms ...
2021-06-10
BOSTON -- Obesity increases one's risk for many diseases and often prevents patients from receiving other necessary medical procedures. One of the most effective ways for patients with severe obesity to lose weight is through bariatric surgery, but it's not clear how often this option is raised. In a new study published in Obesity, investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital find that eligible patients who discuss bariatric surgery options with their primary care providers or specialists from disciplines ranging from cardiology to urology are more likely to undergo surgery and lose more weight than ...
2021-06-10
Previous studies have shown that children with attention difficulties and/or ADHD solve cognitive tasks better when they are exposed to auditory white noise. However, this is the first time that such a link has been demonstrated between visual white noise and cognitive abilities such as memory, reading and non-word decoding in children with reading and writing difficulties.
"The white noise to which we exposed the children, also called visual pixel noise, can be compared with giving children glasses. The effect on reading and memory was immediate," explains Göran Söderlund, Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Gothenburg and Professor of Special Education at the Western Norway University ...
2021-06-10
People who are more prone to boredom and who are socially conservative are more likely to break public-health rules, according to new psychology research.
While previous research demonstrated a connection between being highly prone to boredom and breaking social-distancing rules, this study demonstrated the association was more prominent as participants' social conservatism increased.
"Many public-health measures such as wearing a mask or getting a vaccine have become highly politicized," said James Danckert, professor of psychology at the University of Waterloo. "People who find these ...
2021-06-10
PITTSBURGH, June 10, 2021 - Americans are consuming more craft beer with higher alcohol content but are drinking less beer by volume, according to a new analysis led by epidemiologists at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.
The study, published online and in a coming issue of the journal Substance Use & Misuse, looked at beer purchased in stores between 2004 and 2014. This is the first study to examine trends not only in the volume of beer purchased, but also the "beer specific" alcohol content.
"With the rise in popularity of craft breweries and the acquisition of such breweries by large-scale ...
2021-06-10
India's national government has inappropriately prioritised people for covid-19 vaccination
Current approach is causing huge numbers of avertable deaths, warn experts
India's national government has inappropriately prioritised people for covid-19 vaccination, argue doctors and researchers in The BMJ today.
Peter Lloyd-Sherlock and colleagues warn that the government's current approach to vaccination - focusing on younger age groups - "is causing huge numbers of avertable deaths and is deeply inequitable."
From 3 May to 5 June 2021, more first doses were administered to people under 45 than over 60, even though at ...
2021-06-10
HOUSTON -- Results from the multi-cohort Phase I/II ARROW clinical trial, conducted by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center researchers, showed that a once-daily dose of pralsetinib, a highly selective RET inhibitor, was safe and effective in treating patients with advanced RET fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and RET-altered thyroid cancer. The findings for each cohort were published today in The Lancet Oncology and The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, respectively.
"Targeted therapies have dramatically improved care for patients with NSCLC and thyroid cancer driven by oncogenes, and the rapid clinical translation of selective RET inhibitor ...
2021-06-10
The moons of planets that have no parent star can possess an atmosphere and retain liquid water. Astrophysicists at LMU have calculated that such systems could harbor sufficient water to make life possible - and sustain it.
Water - in liquid form - is the elixir of life. It made life possible on Earth and is indispensable for the continuing existence of living systems on the planet. This explains why scientists are constantly on the lookout for evidence of water on other solid bodies in the Universe. Up to now, however, the existence of liquid water on planets other than Earth has not been directly proven. However, ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Alcohol companies earned billions from underage drinking in 2016
