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An app that retains monitor of how a lot an individual is ingesting could assist scale back their alcohol intake by round two items per week – equal to a medium glass of wine, scientists say.
Researchers at UCL stated their Drink Less app, which is obtainable to obtain totally free on Apple units, can assist people who find themselves high-risk drinkers by permitting them to set objectives, report how a lot they drink, and log their temper and sleep high quality after ingesting.
Their research, involving greater than 5,000 folks, discovered these randomly really helpful to make use of the Drink Less app decreased their ingesting by 39 items per week at six months.
This was equal to 2 fewer items per week on common when in comparison with a management group who had been referred to plain NHS recommendation.
Women had been discovered to profit extra from the app, in line with the analysis, lots of whom decreased their ingesting by a further 2.5 items per week, when in comparison with those that had been referred to the NHS recommendation webpage.
The consultants stated that whereas an additional two items per week could appear small, the outcomes might be important, “both in terms of preventing potential health harms as well as reducing costs to the NHS”.
Lead creator Dr Melissa Oldham, of the UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, stated: “These results show that the Drink Less app can be useful for people looking to reduce their alcohol consumption.
“Alcohol consumption can lead to many health conditions such as cancer and cardiovascular disease.
“About 20% of the adult population in the UK drink alcohol at levels that increase their risk of ill health and the Drink Less app could help these people to cut down.
The NHS recommends people should not drink more than 14 units of alcohol a week, spread across three days or more.
That is around six medium (175ml) glasses of wine, or six pints of 4% beer.
The NHS also has its own Drink Free Days app to help people cut down on alcohol intake.
About 20% of the adult population in the UK drink alcohol at levels that increase their risk of ill health
Dr Melissa Oldham
There are other apps out there too, such as alcohol education charity Drinkaware’s MyDrinkaware App, which has had more than 100,000 downloads on Google Play.
Dr Claire Garnett, of UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care and the University of Bristol, who led a team in developing the app while at UCL, said: “Many apps offer to support people to cut down their drinking but this is the first randomised controlled trial of an alcohol reduction app for the general population in the UK.
“If people are going to use an app, it would be better if they tried one that had good evidence behind it.
“An app that is not effective may make it less likely for that person to try to reduce their drinking in future.”
Dr Sadie Boniface, head of analysis on the Institute of Alcohol Studies stated: “Nice (The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) already recommends digital interventions as an add-on to existing services, so having an app which we know is effective is very welcome news.
“If the Drink Less app can be scaled up and rolled out more widely, it holds promise for population health.
“However, as is the case with a lot of digital health apps, decision-makers should be mindful that these don’t suit everybody.
“Apps are one valuable tool in the box, but there is no silver bullet for alcohol harm.
“What we really need is a national strategy that includes apps alongside other interventions and policies which we know work, such as making alcohol less cheap, not as readily available, less heavily marketed, and improving access to alcohol treatment and support.”
The analysis, revealed in eClinicalMedicine, was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
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