NICE recommends minimum price for alcohol to curb high risk drinking

The government should consider increasing the price of alcohol, making it more difficult to buy, and banning advertising if it wants to create a sensible drinking culture, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has said.

In its evidence based guidance on preventing harmful drinking, NICE recommends a minimum price per unit of alcohol, which, it says, should be regularly reviewed so that alcohol does not become more affordable over time. It also says limits should be put on how much alcohol people can import from abroad, the number of outlets selling alcohol in a given area, and the days and hours that alcohol can be purchased.

Health professionals are also being asked to question routinely their teenage and adult patients about how much they drink to …