The alcohol warning and adolescents: 5-year effects.
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OBJECTIVES: This study, a follow-up to the authors earlier report, examined the effects of the alcohol warning label on adolescents during the first 5 years that the warning was required. METHODS: Surveys were administered to 10th-grade (n = 16,661) and 12th-grade (n = 15,856) students from the 1989-1990 school year through the 1994-1995 school year. The measures were awareness of, exposure to, and recognition memory of the alcohol warning label; beliefs about the risks listed on the warning; and open-ended statements about consequences of alcohol use, alcohol consumption, and self-reported driving after drinking. RESULTS: There were increases in warning awareness, exposure, and recognition memory. These effects leveled off approximately 3.5 years after the inclusion of the warning on alcohol beverage containers. There was no beneficial change attributable to the warning in beliefs, alcohol consumption, or driving after drinking. CONCLUSIONS: The initial positive effects of the alcohol warning label on adolescents have leveled off, consistent with theories of repeated exposure to persuasive information. The alcohol warning has not affected adolescents' beliefs about alcohol or alcohol-related behaviors. (+info)
Decarboxylation of substituted cinnamic acids by lactic acid bacteria isolated during malt whisky fermentation.
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Seven strains of Lactobacillus isolated from malt whisky fermentations and representing Lactobacillus brevis, L. crispatus, L. fermentum, L. hilgardii, L. paracasei, L. pentosus, and L. plantarum contained genes for hydroxycinnamic acid (p-coumaric acid) decarboxylase. With the exception of L. hilgardii, these bacteria decarboxylated p-coumaric acid and/or ferulic acid, with the production of 4-vinylphenol and/or 4-vinylguaiacol, respectively, although the relative activities on the two substrates varied between strains. The addition of p-coumaric acid or ferulic acid to cultures of L. pentosus in MRS broth induced hydroxycinnamic acid decarboxylase mRNA within 5 min, and the gene was also induced by the indigenous components of malt wort. In a simulated distillery fermentation, a mixed culture of L. crispatus and L. pentosus in the presence of Saccharomyces cerevisiae decarboxylated added p-coumaric acid more rapidly than the yeast alone but had little activity on added ferulic acid. Moreover, we were able to demonstrate the induction of hydroxycinnamic acid decarboxylase mRNA under these conditions. However, in fermentations with no additional hydroxycinnamic acid, the bacteria lowered the final concentration of 4-vinylphenol in the fermented wort compared to the level seen in a pure-yeast fermentation. It seems likely that the combined activities of bacteria and yeast decarboxylate p-coumaric acid and then reduce 4-vinylphenol to 4-ethylphenol more effectively than either microorganism alone in pure cultures. Although we have shown that lactobacilli participate in the metabolism of phenolic compounds during malt whisky fermentations, the net result is a reduction in the concentrations of 4-vinylphenol and 4-vinylguaiacol prior to distillation. (+info)
A comparative study of the ability of different solvents and adsorbents to extract aroma compounds from alcoholic beverages.
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Seven liquid solvent systems--dichloromethane, dichloromethane-pentane (1:1), freon 113, diethyl ether-pentane (1:1 and 1:9), ethyl acetate-pentane (with and without an additional salting-out effect) (1:3 and 1:20), and seven solid-phase extraction (SPE) systems (Amberlite XAD-2, 4, 7, and 16; Porapak Q; C8; and C18)--are comparatively studied. The distribution coefficients between the extraction system and a hydroalcoholic solution (12% v/v in ethanol, pH = 3.2) of 14 selected volatile compounds belonging to different chemical families and polarities are calculated. The results are processed by factor analysis and cluster analysis, and the following conclusions are reached. First, the efficiency of extraction decreases in this order: polymeric sorbents > silica-based sorbents > liquid-liquid systems with salting-out effect approximately dichloromethane > rest of liquid solvents. Second, the addition of salt mainly increases the recovery of compounds with Lewis acid properties. Third, the efficiency of the extraction of a liquid solvent depends not only on its polarity but also on its solubility in water. Fourth, in regards to the selectivity of the SPE systems, Porapak Q is the best to extract nonpolar compounds, Amberlite XAD 4 and 16 provide the least selective extraction profiles, and C8 and C18 have a special ability to extract compounds with a Bronstedt-Lowry character. Results indicate that in all cases liquid solvents can be replaced satisfactorily by SPE systems. (+info)
Alcohol consumption and risk of intermittent claudication in the Framingham Heart Study.
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BACKGROUND: Intermittent claudication (IC) is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality. The relation of alcohol consumption to the risk of IC remains controversial. The purpose of this study was to assess the relation of alcohol consumption and type of beverage to the development of IC among participants in the Framingham Heart Study. METHODS AND RESULTS: Alcohol consumption was categorized as 0, 1 to 6, 7 to 12, 13 to 24, and >/=25 g/d. During a mean follow-up of 6.8 years, 414 subjects developed IC. From the lowest to the highest category of alcohol intake, the age-standardized incidence rates of IC were 5.3, 4.1, 4.2, 3.2, and 4.6 cases/1000 person-years for men and 3.4, 2.5, 1.5, 1.9, and 2.5, respectively, for women. A multivariate Cox regression model demonstrated an inverse relation, with the lowest IC risk at levels of 13 to 24 g/d for men and 7 to 12 g/d for women compared with nondrinkers; the hazard ratio (95% CI) was 0.67 (0.42 to 0.99) for men and 0.44 (0.23 to 0.80) for women. This protective effect was seen mostly with wine and beer consumption. CONCLUSIONS: Our data are consistent with a protective effect of moderate alcohol consumption on IC risk, with lowest risk observed in men consuming 13 to 24 g/d (1 to 2 drinks/d) and in women consuming 7 to 12 g/d (0.5 to 1 drink/d). (+info)
Alcohol intake, type of beverage, and the risk of cerebral infarction in young women.
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BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The relationship between alcohol consumption and cerebral infarction remains uncertain, and few studies have investigated whether the relationship varies by alcohol type or is present in young adults. We examined the relationship between alcohol consumption, beverage type, and ischemic stroke in the Stroke Prevention in Young Women Study. METHODS: All 59 hospitals in the greater Baltimore-Washington area participated in a population-based case-control study of stroke in young women. Case patients (n=224) were aged 15 to 44 years with a first cerebral infarction, and control subjects (n=392), identified by random-digit dialing, were frequency matched by age and region of residence. The interview assessed lifetime alcohol consumption and consumption and beverage type in the previous year, week, and day. ORs were obtained from logistic regression models controlling for age, race, education, and smoking status, with never drinkers as the referent. RESULTS: Alcohol consumption, up to 24 g/d, in the past year was associated with fewer ischemic strokes (<12 g/d: OR 0.57, 95% CI 0. 38 to 0.86; 12 to 24 g/d: OR 0.38, 95% CI 0.17 to 0.86; >24 g/d: OR 0.95, 95% CI 0.43 to 2.10) in comparison to never drinking. Analyses of beverage type (beer, wine, liquor) indicated a protective effect for wine consumption in the previous year (<12 g/wk: OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.35 to 0.97; 12 g/wk to <12 g/d: OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.28 to 1.10; >/=12 g/d: OR 0.92, 95% CI 0.23 to 3.64). CONCLUSIONS: Light to moderate alcohol consumption appears to be associated with a reduced risk of ischemic stroke in young women. (+info)
Economic analysis aids alcohol research.
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Economic research contributes to our understanding of alcohol use and the prevention and treatment of alcohol-related problems in several ways. This article reviews three areas in which the tools of economic analysis have produced significant insights in recent years. First, economic researchers have analyzed the effects of beverage prices and taxation on alcohol consumption and on adverse consequences associated with alcohol use. Second, analyses of the costs and cost-effectiveness of treatment for alcohol use disorders have provided insight into the long-term costs and benefits of alternative approaches to alcoholism treatment. Finally, studies have incorporated economic techniques in estimating the overall magnitude of the burden placed on society by the misuse of alcoholic beverages. (+info)
An economic approach to animal models of alcoholism.
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Researchers have long sought an animal model for human alcohol consumption. This article describes an economic-based approach to a model of alcohol preference in rats. The procedures are based on an analogy between clinical accounts of human drinking and the economic analysis of consumption. Both clinical and economic investigators typically define consumption patterns in terms of the influence of negative consequences. For example, the clinical account emphasizes the persistence of heavy drinking despite mounting alcohol-related aversive consequences, and in economic analyses, the term "inelastic demand" is used to refer to the persistence of consumption despite large increases in prices. In the experimental procedure described here, rats worked for alcohol and food. Presses on one lever earned a drink of 10 percent alcohol plus saccharin, and presses on a second lever earned isocaloric drinks of a starch solution. After behavior stabilized, the response requirements (which are analogous to prices) for one or both drinks were increased. The rats maintained baseline alcohol consumption levels despite large increases in the "price" of alcohol. In contrast, the same price increases markedly reduced starch intake. That is, food consumption was sensitive to price hikes, but alcohol consumption was not. The results demonstrate that a common economic framework can be used to describe human and animal behavior and, hence, the possibility of an animal model of human alcohol consumption. The article also points out that economic concepts provide a framework for understanding a wide range of human drinking patterns, including controlled social drinking and excessive alcoholic drinking. (+info)
Can legislation prevent debauchery? Mother gin and public health in 18th-century England.
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The "gin epidemic" of 1720 to 1751 in England was the first time that government intervened in a systematic fashion to regulate and control sales of alcohol. The epidemic therefore provides an opportunity to gauge the effects of multiple legislative interventions over time. Toward that end, we employed time series analysis in conjunction with qualitative methodologies to test the interplay of multiple independent variables, including real wages and taxes, on the consumption of distilled spirits from 1700 through 1771. The results showed that each of the 3 major gin acts was successful in the short term only, consistent with the state's limited resources for enforcement at the local level, and that in each instance consumption actually increased shortly thereafter. This was true even of the Gin Act of 1751, which, contrary to the assumptions of contemporaries and many historians, succeeded by accident rather than by design. The results also suggest that the epidemic followed the inverse U-shaped trajectory of more recent drug scares and that consumption declined only after the more deleterious effects of distilled spirits had been experienced by large numbers of people. (+info)