A Bottle of Beer, a Glass of Wine or a Shot of Whiskey? Can the Rate of Alcohol-induced Harm Be Affected by Altering the Population's Beverage Choices?

This article summarizes and puts into context the findings from the five articles contained in this thematic issue. The question of interest has been the connection between different beverage types and alcohol-induced harm. The key question is whether policy makers can affect rates of harm by affecting beverage choice. In the discussion, four different potential pathways for such an effect are differentiated. The first is the direct effect of the beverage over and above the effect of the ethanol it contains. The review of results suggests that the size of this effect may be modest, and it is clearly overmatched by cultural factors relating to who chooses to drink which beverage and how. However, even more relevant than the direct effect may be the other three mechanisms, which potentially affect the amounts of alcohol drunk or allow the influencing of drinker groups of interest.