The second of four meetings by the Scottish Health Committee is taking place today to further discuss the Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Bill.  Members of the drinks industry both in support and opposition for the bill have been invited to Holyrood to debate minimum pricing and to determine its effectiveness in reducing the harm caused by alcohol.

The effects of alcohol are estimated to cost Scotland £3.5billion a year.

Scientists from the University of California have established a link between alcohol and laughter.  Their research found that drinking alcohol leads to the release of endorphins in areas of the brain that produce feelings of pleasure and reward. The reason for this is that alcohol causes endorphins to be released in the nucleus accumbens, which is linked to addictive behaviour and orbitofrontal cortex regions, which deal with decision making.

Brain scans were carried on 25 people,  13 heavy drinkers and 12 social drinkers following consumption of the same amount of alcohol. Each person showed higher levels of endorphins in the nucleus accumbens however differed in how the orbitofrontal cortex reacted. In heavy drinkers there was a higher level of intoxication.

Dr Jennifer Mitchell, a neuroscientist at the University of California was in charge of the study and commented “This indicates that the brains of heavy or problem drinkers are changed in a way that makes them more likely to find alcohol pleasant, and may be a clue to how problem drinking develops in the first place.”  She further added “That greater feeling of reward might cause them to drink too much.”

By establishing the parts of the brain that release the endorphins it is hoped that scientists can develop treatments for alcohol addiction.

The Health Committee in Scotland met yesterday to discuss stage one of the Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Bill. The Bill was introduced in the Scottish Parliament on 1 November 2011. The main purpose is to introduce a minimum price below which alcohol cannot be sold.  The higher the amount of units the drink contains, the stronger it is and therefore the more expensive it will be. At present the proposal is 45p per unit.

Health and economics experts gave evidence both for and against the bill. There will be further meetings on 17, 24 and 31 January 2012 prior to a report being published at the end of February. The Bill will potentially not only affect Scottish drinkers.  The Prime Minister David Cameron has recently requested officials develop a minimum pricing scheme in England similar to that proposed in Scotland.

Alcohol is a topical subject at this time of year; the authorities are concerned about the dangers of drink-driving and the general public will be bombarded with advice through the media on how best to recover from their Christmas excesses, amongst them, a higher than normal alcohol intake. Special diets and even selective fasting have long been the currency of these solutions, amongst them the so called “Janopause” when devotees completely eliminate alcohol from the their diets during the month of January in the belief and expectation of benefiting from the perceived impact this will have on their general well-being, most specifically, their livers.

It appears however, according to recent pronouncements from the charity the British Liver Trust, that these measures offer false hope to those who follow them and are basically pointless, especially if there has been an increase in alcohol consumption over the Christmas period. It says drinkers would be much better advised to abstain for a few days a week throughout the year rather than concentrate all their efforts over the first month.

According to Andrew Langford, chief executive of the British Liver Trust:

“People think they’re virtuous with their health by embarking on a liver detox each January with the belief that they are cleansing their liver of excess following the festive break.”

“A one-hit, one-month attempt to achieve long-term liver health is not the way to approach it.”

“You’re better off making a resolution to take a few days off alcohol a week throughout the entire year than remaining abstinent for January only.”

Dr Mark Wright, consultant hepatologist (hepatology: the branch of medicine that incorporates the study of liver, gallbladder, biliary tree, and pancreas as well as management of their disorders) at Southampton General Hospital supported this view explaining that detoxing created its own problems.

“Detoxing for just a month in January is medically futile. It can lead to a false sense of security and feeds the idea that you can abuse your liver as much as you like and then sort everything else with a quick fix.

“It makes about as much sense as maxing out your credit cards and overdraft all year, then thinking you can fix it by just eating toast in January. The figures just don’t stack up.”

This isn’t the first time the multimillion pound detox industry has come in for criticism. In 2007 the the government’s food watchdog chief scientist Dr Wadge posted the following in his blog:

“There’s a lot of nonsense talked about ‘detoxing’ and most people seem to forget that we are born with a built-in detox mechanism. “It’s called the liver. So my advice would be to ditch the detox diets and supplements and buy yourself something nice with the money you’ve saved.”

His advice was to:

“First, drink a glass or two of water (tap is fine, cheaper and more sustainable than bottled); second, get a little exercise - maybe a walk in the park - and third, enjoy some nice home-cooked food.”

As part of its efforts to tackle the problems associated with liver disease the British Liver Trust is launching a campaign called “Love your liver” aimed at encouraging behaviour likely to ensure a healthy liver.

David Cameron is understood to be keen in adopting a new strategy to address the health threat caused by excessive alcohol consumption. Moving away from the voluntary approach favoured by his cabinet colleagues, the Prime Minister is reported to support a new proposal to introduce a minimum price for alcohol sales in England.

The scheme could be modelled on the Scottish proposals and ban alcohol sale below 45p a unit; an other option could be the introduction of a tax system linked to the number of alcohol units in a drink.

A Whitehall source told the Telegraph: “The prime minister has decided that, when it comes to alcohol, something pretty radical now has to be done and he is keen on the minimum price”.

A recent study suggested that a minimum price of 50p would prevent more than 2,000 deaths a year.