Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverage Licensing Blog

WWLP.com reports that Senator Robert Hedlund, a Republican from Hingham, is backing away from his Senate-passed casino amendment that proposes to return Happy Hour to Massachusetts. Instead, he's suggesting that the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission review its regulations on bars and restaurants and propose revisions.

Hedlund said the six-member casino bill conference committee tasked with consolidating the House and Senate versions of the expanded gaming bill can certainly make changes to his amendment.

The Hingham Republican's change of tone comes after facing criticism from the public for supporting stronger drunk driving penalties and also discounted drinks in bars and restaurants.

Hedlund says that a Happy Hour will not increase drunk driving statistics and it will help bars and restaurants compete with casinos. But he realizes his amendment is unpopular. Hedlund said the intent of his amendment is to help businesses attract customers and create jobs, and he's willing to try an alternative approach to achieve that end.

Women who drink 15 grams or less of alcohol a day (the equivalent of one drink of any alcoholic beverage) at midlife may be healthier when older than women who do not drink at all, who consume more than two drinks a day, or who consume four drinks or more at the one time.

A study led by Qi Sun from the Harvard School of Public Health and the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and published in this week's PLoS Medicine, suggests that in women, regular, moderate alcohol consumption during middle age (average age 58 years) is related to good overall health--that is, having no major chronic diseases, such as heart disease or diabetes, and no major cognitive and physical impairment, or mental health limitations--in those who live to 70 years and beyond. The authors define this good overall health as "successful ageing."

The authors used information from periodic food frequency questionnaires given to the 121,700 female nurses enrolled in the US Nurses' Health Study (which began in 1976) to assess the alcohol consumption of the nurses during middle age. The authors then included in their analysis the vast majority (98.1%) of participants who were not heavier drinkers (45 g/d) when middle-aged and examined the health status in the 13,984 women who lived to 70 years and over.

After discounting other factors, such as smoking, that might affect their health status, the authors found that women who drank 5 g of alcohol per day (between a 1/3 and 1 drink per day) had about a 20% higher chance of good overall health when older compared to non-drinkers. Furthermore, women who drank alcohol regularly had a better chance of good overall health when older than occasional drinkers: compared to women who didn't drink at all, women who drank five to seven days a week had almost 50% greater chance of good overall health when older.

The authors conclude: "These data suggest that regular, moderate consumption of alcohol at midlife may be related to a modest increase in overall health status among women who survive to older ages."

They add: "The 2010 US Department of Agriculture dietary guidelines note that moderate alcohol consumption of up to one drink per day for women and up to two drinks per day for men may provide health benefits in some people. Our data support this recommendation and provide novel evidence suggesting that light-to-moderate alcohol consumption at the levels of one to two drinks/day or slightly less at midlife may benefit overall health at older ages in US women."

Alcohol-related visits to local emergency rooms spike whenever Boston teams win championships and have parades, but effective public-safety oversight means we don't experience the same sort of "horrendous" violence that other cities experience when they win, the Boston Public Health Commission reports.

The commission says it compiled ER stats from Boston championship runs dating back to 2004, and including this year's Bruins' championship:

The Bruins' victory parade on June 18 generated the most alcohol-related hospital visits with 46, followed by 45 during the 2008 victory parade after the Celtics won the NBA championship. The 2007 parade after the Sox won the World Series generated the fewest alcohol-related ER visits with 20.

On the spectrum of assaults, 21 people - or three more than a typical Saturday - went to the ER for assault-related visits on the Bruins' parade day, while only 8 went in 2004 on the day of the Patriots victory parade, which was 1.5 fewer visits than average.

In a statement, Public Health Commission Executive Direct Barabara Ferrer said:

Clearly, the data show that our town of titles has an effective public safety response when it comes to managing the euphoria that comes with winning championships. And while it's always important to remind people to drink in moderation, we are not seeing in Boston the horrendous consequences of excessive alcohol consumption that has enveloped some other cities.

Two new studies find a drink or two a day may cut disease risk and boost 'good' cholesterol.

Moderate alcohol consumption may help protect against heart disease, according to two new papers by Canadian researchers.

One team at the University of Calgary reviewed 84 studies that examined alcohol consumption and heart disease, and concluded that people who drink alcohol in moderation (one drink or less per day) are 14 percent to 25 percent less likely to develop heart disease as those who don't drink alcohol.

Another team reviewed 63 studies and found that moderate consumption of alcohol (which the researchers defined as up to one drink a day for women, and one to two drinks a day for men) significantly increases levels of "good" cholesterol, which has a protective effect against heart disease.

The findings, published online Feb. 22 in the BMJ, add to evidence from prior studies that found moderate alcohol consumption may be associated with a decreased risk of heart disease.

One expert said the research does seem to support the intake of a little alcohol to help the heart.

"In addressing lifestyle issues, alcohol consumption, in moderation, could be recommended as part of a heart-healthy lifestyle," said Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, a preventive cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

The authors of the second paper, also from the University of Calgary, conclude that it is the alcohol content that provides the health benefits, not the type of alcoholic beverage (wine, beer or spirits).

Steinbaum agreed with that assessment. "One of the mechanisms of decreasing heart disease is by increasing the HDL ['good' cholesterol], which is independent of the type of alcohol, whether it be wine, beer or spirits," she said.

But the researchers on the first paper noted that although moderate drinking appears to boost heart health, that message needs to be balanced with the caveat that drinking too much is bad for your health.

Discussions about the impact of alcohol on heart disease should now focus on "how to integrate this evidence into clinical practice and public health messages," William Ghali, of the University of Calgary, noted in a news release from the journal's publisher.

The Patriot Ledger reports that the Norwell police department has gotten all but two of the liquor license holders in town to agree to participate in its new designated driver program, which it hopes to launch before Thanksgiving.

Officer Tim O'Brien, who has spearheaded the effort, told the Ledger that nine of Norwell's bars and restaurants have joined the program and will offer free non-alcoholic beverages to people who volunteer to be a group's designated driver. "If someone designates themselves as the driver, they can't have even a beer or a glass of wine," O'Brien said.

Hingham police have run such a program for the last eight years and built up a 100 percent participation rate.

Most of Norwell's liquor license holders are on Route 53, but at least one is on Route 123. The move to establish an official designated driver program comes as Norwell police report an increase in the number of drunken-driving arrests.

Police Chief Theodore Ross did not offer statistics but he said arrests are on the rise due to a few factors.

"One is the vigilance of citizens who have cell phone and report erratic drivers, cars that almost hit a pole or are speeding," Ross said.

His officers have also stepped up enforcement, tapping grant funding aimed solely at catching drunken drivers.

Ross said the suspected drunken drivers caught in Norwell are not all coming from local bars and restaurants. Some are adults and underage drinkers who were at private parties.

O'Brien hopes to, before Thanksgiving, publicize the bars and restaurants that are participating in the designated driver program. Alcohol-related car crashes killed 108 people in Massachusetts in 2009, down from 148 in 2005, according to statistics compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Bloomberg reported this week on a recent UK study showing that those who drink alcohol on more than 10 days a month reduce the risk of rheumatoid arthritis and its painful effects.

Non-drinkers were four times more likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis than people who drank alcohol on more than 10 days a month, according to the research published online today by the U.K. journal Rheumatology. Arthritis patients who drank regularly had less severe symptoms than non-drinkers, the study found.

Chalk this up to yet another reason why alcohol, in moderation, and consumed responsibly, can be advantageous to your health.