Drinkers To Be Offered Pill To Reduce Alcohol Consumption
If You Drink Two Glasses Of Wine Per Night, You Could Need This Pill
PA/ The Huffington Post UK
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If you're one of the thousands of people who drink half a bottle of wine in an evening, you could be eligible to receive a new pill that helps reduce alcohol consumption.
The life-saving pill, nalmefene, will help keep cravings at bay for mild alcoholics. Nearly 600,000 people who drink two glasses of wine or three pints in one night are to be offered the tablet.
Experts claim the drug, which costs £3 a tablet, could save as many as 1,854 lives over five years and prevent 43,074 alcohol-related diseases and injuries.
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The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) recommended the drug's use after trials showed it cut drinking by 61% over six months when used with counselling.
Under new plans, GPs would ask patients about their alcohol intake even when they visit them for unrelated health issues.
"Alcohol dependence is a serious issue for many people," said Professor Carole Longson, for Nice health technology evaluation centre.
"Those who could be prescribed nalmefene have already taken the first big steps by visiting their doctor, engaging with support services and taking part in therapy programmes.
"We are pleased to be able to recommend the use of nalmefene to support people further in their efforts to fight alcohol dependence.
"When used alongside psychosocial support, nalmefene is clinically and cost effective for the NHS compared with psychosocial support alone."
A final decision to roll out the drug on the NHS in England at a cost of £288 million per year will be taken in November.
It has been provided to patients in Scotland since October last year.
The pill, also known as Selincro, is administered orally once a day and is taken when people feel the urge drink.
It works by blocking the part of the brain which gives drinkers pleasure from alcohol, stopping them from wanting more than one drink.
Men would qualify to receive the treatment if they consume 7.5 units of alcohol per day - around three to four pints of standard strength lager.
It would be offered to women who consume five units a day, which amounts to around half a bottle of wine.
Nalmefene is the only licensed medicine which helps people reduce their drinking rather than aiding them to stop drinking altogether.
Severe alcoholics and those who are able to cut down without help would not be eligible for the drug.
Alcohol dependence is diagnosed if people show three out of six principal symptoms at the same time within the last year.
They are: strong desire to take alcohol, difficulties in controlling the use of alcohol, neglect of hobbies due to alcohol use, persisting with alcohol use despite seeing it harm themselves, tolerance to the effects of alcohol, and withdrawal symptoms.
9 Myths About Alcohol, Busted
Myth 1: You can have one alcoholic drink an hour and still drive home.(01 of09)
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You've probably heard the theory that our bodies naturally process a drink an hour. But actually, says Warren, it's more like two hours. "The average rate of alcohol metabolism is 100 milligrams of alcohol per kilogram of bodyweight per hour," he says. "For a typical 160-pound man, this would translate into 7 grams of alcohol in an hour. The so-called standard serving, a 12-ounce bottle of bear, is 14 grams of alcohol, so it would take two hours to fully metabolize it. For most people, if you drink one drink an hour, you're going to become more and more impaired each hour." For that 160-pound person, he says, at the rate of one drink an hour, four hours of drinking is enough to get you to a blood alcohol concentration of .08 -- aka legally drunk. (credit:Gettystock)
Myth 2: You can sober up quickly if you have to.(02 of09)
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Nothing speeds up the process, not a hot cup of coffee nor a cold shower. Caffeine can actually do more harm than good, says Warren. "Caffeine is a stimulant, and because of that, a person's going to be more awake but just as much impaired," he says. "It can give an individual a false degree of confidence that they are not impaired," he says, which could lead to riskier behavior and dangerous decisions. (credit:Gettystock)
Myth 3: "Break the seal" and you'll spend all night in line for the bathroom.(03 of09)
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Drinking alcohol will send you to the bathroom more frequently than if you abstained. Booze suppresses the hormone vasopressin, which means more liquid than usual is redirected to the bladder. Alcohol is also a diuretic, so more water is squeezed out of each cell in our bodies when we drink. That extra fluid is also sent to the bladder. Suddenly, you've really got to go -- and as you continue drinking, the amount of fluids you need to get rid of only increases. But! It has nothing to do with how long you postpone your first trip. (credit:Gettystock)
Myth 4: Beer before liquor, never been sicker(04 of09)
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In reality, you're probably finding yourself in the throes of a wicked hangover because of the total amount of alcohol you consumed, not the order in which you consumed it, the New York Times reported. "The pattern, more often, is that people will have beer and then move on to liquor at the end of the night, and so they think it's the liquor that made them sick," Carlton K. Erickson, director of the Addiction Science Research and Education Center at the University of Texas College of Pharmacy, told the Times in 2006. "But simply mixing the two really has nothing to do with it." (credit:Gettystock)
Myth 5: Drinking beer gives you a beer belly.(05 of09)
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It certainly can -- but so can anything you consume in excess. That stereotypical beer-drinker's gut is a sign you're overdoing it on something, but not necessarily beer. "[M]ost beer bellies are just due to excessive calories from any source, beer among them," Marion Nestle, Ph.D., M.P.H., a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University told The Huffington Post in 2013. (credit:Gettystock)
Myth 6: A nightcap will help you sleep.(06 of09)
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A drink before bedtime can make it easier to fall asleep, but booze-fueled snoozing quickly becomes disrupted. According to a 2013 review of the research, alcohol typically disrupts sleep during rapid eye movement or REM sleep, leading to a decreased amount of time spent in this crucial stage. (credit:Gettystock)
Myth 7: Those hangover prevention "shots" are the answer.(07 of09)
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There's no scientific evidence to support any of the claims made on those products marketed as the cure to all hangovers, no matter how many vitamins they're packed with, says Warren. "In the past, [manufacturers] have added thiamine or folate or vitamin B6 or vitamin B12 and claimed this helps speed the rate of clearance of alcohol," he says. "There's no basis and no evidence to indicate that that actually does happen." (credit:Gettystock )
Myth 8: A bacon, egg and cheese the morning after will get you back to normal.(08 of09)
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Just about every reveler has his or her own hangover-busting meal of choice, but in actuality what you eat before (or during) drinking is more important, says Warren. "If you eat before you drink or while you drink, the effect of the food is to decrease the rate of absorption of alcohol into the body and ... you will not get as high of a blood alcohol concentration," he says. But there's no research to support any benefits of any particular post-party breakfast. (credit:Gettystock)
Myth 9: Passing out from drinking isn't that big of a deal.(09 of09)
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At one point or another, we've likely all heard a frat brother brag about waking up across the quad from last night's rager -- as if passing out was simply a level of intoxication and not a life-threatening situation. "Alcohol poisoning is drinking a sufficient amount of alcohol to suppress the central nervous system so that an individual stops required bodily functions," says Warren. Reflexes that keep us alive -- like coughing, gagging, breathing -- can be shut down completely, which can cause death directly, or, as is more common, can cause someone who vomits to inhale the vomit and drown. "People have to know how much they are drinking and make sure they do not put their life at risk," says Warren. (credit:Gettystock)