According to the Office for National Statistics, the amount of men drinking over the ‘sensible’ daily limit has fallen from 39% in 2004 to 35% last year, and the official figures show the amount of women has fallen from 24% to 22%.

As to whether the licensing laws being relaxed towards the end of last year have had an effect on these figures remains unclear, however another ONS survey did reveal that public knowledge of recommended limits and measurements continues to increase.

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Alcohol-related death rates have almost doubled since 1991 in the UK according to an article on the BBC website. Apparently the ONS (Office for National Statistics) reported 8,386 alcohol related deaths in 2005, compared to 4,144 in 1991.

The statistics also revealed the death rates were much higher for men than women. A Department of Health spokesperson said, ‘Already annually some £217m is spent locally on alcohol treatment interventions and PCTs have also been notified that a total of £15m of additional investment will be provided for alcohol treatment services from 2007-08.’

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According to the campaigning group Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), smoking is inextricably linked to poverty. An article in the Guardian revealed that 48% of men in the poorest social class died before they reached 70, compared with 22% of men in the richest social class - half of that difference is estimated to be accounted for by smoking.

ASH have launched interactive maps online revealing the close link between cigarette consumption and deprivation – they show how even relatively small areas of deprivation match up with areas of heavy smoking.

In the Princess ward in Merseyside, which is said to be the most deprived area of England, a huge 52% of the population smoke. In the least deprived ward (Keyworth North in the East Midlands) only 12% of the population smoke. The national average is 26% so the huge variations are evident.

An artical in the Guardian today asks the question ‘Can anything persuade Britain’s smokers to quit?’ We’ve all seen the adverts with fat dripping off cigarettes and the oxygen being used to help an elderly lady breathe. But apparently this hasn’t worked so the government have launched a new campaign:

“Getting a cat’s bum mouth?”, the latest public health advert reads. “Fags are the best ageing treatment money can buy. They make your skin look like an old dishrag. You know all that good stuff night creams and day creams do? Fags undo it. They’re just plain ugly.”

In an effort to appeal to smokers’ vanity this ad is different to those seen before. Will it work? We’ll have to wait and see …

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Patients given the drug AS1404 as well as standard chemotherapy lived an average of 14 months compared with 8.8 months if given chemotherapy alone according to an article on BBC News. In preliminary trials, this experimental lung cancer drug has extended patients’ life expectancy by approximately 50%.

The new drug works by cutting off blood supply to tumours; it is able to distinguish between blood vessels feeding the tumour and those serving healthy organs. Dr Mark McKeage, who co-led the trial, said “It is great to see this large survival benefit with AS1404 in lung cancer patients”.

The charity Cancer Research UK has now stepped in to take the drug into early stage clinical trials.

Four out of five adults with a long-term lung disease are unaware of their condition, research suggests. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) includes bronchitis and emphysema and only 18.8% of sufferers have had it diagnosed and only 46% of those in its severe stages know they have it.

“The lack of diagnosis is a concern because smokers, who are particularly prone to it, can halt its progression if they are diagnosed sufficiently early and stop smoking” an article in the Guardian states.

Lead researcher Professor Robert West, director of tobacco studies at Cancer Research UK’s Health Behavioural Unit, said “Many smokers feel that they will ‘get away with it’ and not be affected in a serious way by their habit. For smokers with COPD that doubt is removed. Every day they continue to smoke will make things worse.”

COPD is reported as the sixth most common cause of death in England and Wales, killing more than 30,000 people each year.

The government have rejected calls for tighter controls on alcohol advertising and sponsorship. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs said, “tougher methods to teach children about alcohol and tobacco are needed”. However, Schools Minister Lord Adonis said the government was focusing on existing policies to combat a consumption rise.

Raising duty on alcohol, increasing the legal smoking age from 16 to 17, banning alcohol adverts on TV and prohibiting alcohol firms from sponsoring sports or music events watched by under 18’s were ideas raised by the report, Apparently 15 year olds in Britain are among the heaviest users of alcohol, cannabis and tobacco in Europe:

“Between a fifth and a quarter of 15-year-olds are regular smokers, half drink alcohol at least once a week and nearly a quarter have used illegal drugs in the past month”, the panel said.

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An article on the BBC News website explains how drug users in need of care may not receive the treatment they need due to where they live. A report conducted by the Healthcare Commission and the National Treatment Agency showed that only 5% of the 149 Drud Action Teams around the UK were rated as providing an excellent service. Furthermore, only 23% were given a rating of good, 71% were said to be fair and 1% given a rating of weak.

Research conducted in the last few years suggests that sufferers of substance misuse are more likely to recover or improve their condition if treatment continues for three months. It has been noted that services have improved but in many circumstances access to a longer period of care and treatment depends on the availability of the service in your area. For more information about this topic visit the BBC Websites Health section.

Mothers who drink three or more glasses of alchohol at any one occasion in early pregnancy increase their offspring’s chance of developing alcoholic disorders by 21 years of age, according to a new report.

Drinking during early childhood has been associated with mental and behavioural problems, difficulties in thinking, learning and memory, but few studies have so far researched the link between drinking during pregnancy and a child’s risk for alcohol dependence and other disorders in later life.

Find out more about the new report

To ensure people comply with the smoking ban, the government plans to introduce a “shop-a-smoker” hotline next summer. People will be able to report others not obiding by the ban, giving their names and the venue where thay were seen smoking.

Smoker’s lobby group Forest said, “People won’t use the phone line…It is not the British way”. Legislation to ban smoking from all public places, including pubs and restaurants will come into force from summer 2007.

Read more on BBC News

Experts believe that children of alcoholics are four times more likely to be addicted to drink and there is also a risk of other addictions, including drug and gambling problems an article on BBC News reports today.

The Priory study reviewed existing data on crime, abuse and alcoholism and consulted its own doctors and therapists to compile the report. The report said “growing up in an alcoholic household was inextricably linked to abuse”, but continued to say “children reacted in one of three ways - either they became withdrawn, went into denial or used the experience to benefit themselves by becoming stronger”.

Researchers said previous studies had revealed that 70% of children of alcoholics develop compulsive behaviour around either alcohol, drugs, food, sex, work or gambling, and around half ended up marrying alcoholics.

Professor Martin Plant, an addiction expert at the University of the West of England, did end on a positive note by saying, “the children of alcoholics can break the cycle, many end up loathing alcohol and refusing to let it destroy their lives like it may have done to their parents.”

A new study has looked at alcoholics who have been sober for 6 months to 13 years - and the results indicate that long-term abstinent alcoholics can recover many - but not all - of their neurocognitive deficits.

“We found that the cognitive and mental abilities of middle-aged alcoholics who had been abstinent for six months to 13 years are indistinguishable from those of age and gender comparable non-alcoholics,” said George Fein, president of and senior scientist at Neurobehavioral Research, “with the possible exception of spatial processing abilities”.

However, Fein continued, “we cannot definitively say that these individuals had deficits when they stopped drinking. We don’t have data on this. Furthermore, these people were middle-aged. We’re not saying that you will have full recovery if you stop drinking in your 50s or 60s; we are saying that these people stopped drinking earlier, and they appear to have close-to-full recovery function.”

Via Medical News Today