Scotland

Scottish Government consultation on alcohol advertising.

The Scottish Government is seeking responses for their 'Restricting Alcohol Advertising and Promotion' consultation. Members of the public can give their views on this matter from the button below. The consultation is open until Thursday 9th March 2023.

The consultation is asking the public and charities to share their views on potential additional restrictions to alcohol advertising and promotion in Scotland. Alcohol-related harm is one of the most pressing public health challenges we face in Scotland. In 2020, Scots bought enough alcohol for everyone aged over 16 to drink 18 units of alcohol a week, 28% more than the UK Chief Medical Officers’ lower-risk guidelines of 14 units per week. An average of 700 people are hospitalised and 24 people die each week from illnesses caused by drinking alcohol. Each one of these deaths is tragic and are entirely preventable.

Pancreatic Cancer Action

Why does this matter for pancreatic cancer?

There is a significant association between alcohol and pancreatic cancer risk. However, there appears to be an even greater link between alcohol consumption and pancreatitis, which is also a risk factor for pancreatic cancer. Research suggests that the link with pancreatitis explains the relationship between excessive alcohol consumption and pancreatic cancer.

Long-term heavy alcohol consumption can increase the morbidity and mortality of pancreatic cancer. However, research has also indicated that the volume of alcohol consumption would need to be extreme for it to be an independent risk of pancreatic cancer. Excessive alcohol consumption can also cause weight gain significant weight gain. Obesity has been found to increase the risk in approximately 12% of all pancreatic cancers.

Pancreatic Cancer Action has been campaigning to raise awareness of the relationship between excessive alcohol consumption and pancreatic cancer through our ‘Prevention in Action project. Pancreatic cancer is currently the 5th biggest cancer with over 10,500 cases diagnosed every year in the UK. Given that it has the lowest survival rate of all the common cancers, anything we can do to reduce the number of pancreatic cancer cases will save lives.

We are asking all of our supporters in Scotland to submit a response and share their views on this consultation asking the government to go ahead with the restriction of alcohol advertising and promotion and share any additional suggestions. This is one way to try and prevent the popularity of brands, particularly amongst young people and prevent people from developing pancreatic cancer and save lives.

Citations:

Park, J. H., Han, K., Hong, J. Y., Park, Y. S., & Park, J. O. (2022). Association between alcohol consumption and pancreatic cancer risk differs by glycaemic status: A nationwide cohort study. European Journal of Cancer163, 119-127.

  • The J-shaped dose–response association between alcohol consumption and pancreatic cancer risk was observed only in individuals with normoglycemia, not in patients with IFG and diabetes. Complete alcohol abstinence may help reduce pancreatic cancer risk in patients with IFG and diabetes.

Okita, Y., Sobue, T., Zha, L., Kitamura, T., Iwasaki, M., Inoue, M., … & Sawada, N. (2022). Association between alcohol consumption and risk of pancreatic cancer: The japan public health center-based prospective study. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention31(11), 2011-2019.

  • Significant association between alcohol consumption and pancreatic cancer risk.

Olakowski, M., & Bułdak, Ł. (2022). Modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors for the development of non-hereditary pancreatic cancer. Medicina58(8), 978.

  • Alcohol-related PC risk increases with the simultaneous smoking.

Ghoreishi, Z., Esfahani, A., Asgarzad, S., Payahoo, L., & Hajizadeh-Sharafabad, F. (2022). Association between alcohol consumption and pancreatic cancer: a systematic review of cohort studies. Tehran University Medical Journal TUMS Publications79(10), 743-753.

  • Long-term heavy alcohol drinking can increase the morbidity or mortality of pancreatic cancer.