We regularly scan eleven journals for new studies of particular population health relevance (the list of journals is at the end of this post). A couple of recent papers caught our eye:
This article describes the impact of raising minimum alcohol prices by 10% in Saskatchewan, Canada. Saskatchewan provides a unique case study in that the provincial government has established a monopoly to control alcohol distribution. The intervention led to an 8.43% reduction in alcohol consumption, with the greatest declines from beer, spirits, and wine respectively. Notably, a significant portion of this effect was observed via retail sales, as opposed to bars and restaurant consumption. Equally interesting, the study found a differential affect by alcoholic beverage potency. High alcohol content beer and wine were associated with the largest decreases in consumption, with high alcohol beer dropping 22% compared to only 8% for low alcohol beer. The surprisingly targeted effects of the alcohol pricing legislation investigated here merits further research, including probing for broader policy application.
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