London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 15-17 Tavistock Place, London, WC1H 9SH, UK.
Old Medical School, Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh, Teviot Place, Edinburgh, EH8 9AG, UK.
Harm Reduct J. 2022 Jun 25;19(1):66. doi: 10.1186/s12954-022-00648-y.
The aim of this study was to critically analyse information concerning the relationship between alcohol and food consumption provided via alcohol industry (AI) funded and non-AI-funded health-oriented websites, to determine the role it plays within the alcohol information space, and how this serves the interests of the disseminating organisations.
Information on food as a harm reduction measure while drinking alcohol was extracted from 15 AI websites and websites of AI-funded corporate social responsibility (CSR) organisations. As a comparison group, non-AI-funded health websites were also searched (n = 16 websites with food and alcohol-related content). Information was included from webpage content and associated downloadable documents. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) was adopted to allow the texts analysed to be situated within the broader political and social context. Analysis was carried out iteratively, involving continuous comparison within and between websites. Discursive themes were identified by three researchers. Identified discursive elements were discussed to reach a consensus, and a final coding framework was then developed. "Tone" analysis was used to assess whether the overall tone within individual websites was considered to be pro-alcohol consumption, neutral or discouraging of alcohol consumption.
There were some commonalities across AI and non-AI-funded websites, whereby both appeared to normalise alcohol consumption and to encourage use of food as a measure to enable sustained drinking, to avoid drinking in a way that results in short-term harms, and to prevent or "cure" a hangover. The fact that both AI-funded and non-AI-funded organisations shared many of these narratives is particularly concerning. However, a discourse of food and alcohol that served to promote "moderate" drinking as beneficial to health was used exclusively by AI-funded organisations, focusing on special occasions and individual-blaming.
Alcohol consumption, including heavy and harmful consumption, is frequently normalised within the online information space. Emphasising food consumption with alcohol may have the effect of supporting consumers to drink for longer periods of time. Health professionals and independent health organisations should review the information they provide in light of our findings and challenge why AI-funded organisations, with a major conflict of interest, and a history of health misinformation, are often given the responsibility for disseminating health information to the public.
本研究旨在批判性地分析酒类行业（AI）资助和非 AI 资助的以健康为导向的网站上提供的有关酒精与食物消费之间关系的信息，以确定其在酒精信息空间中的作用，以及这种作用如何服务于传播组织的利益。
从 15 个 AI 网站和 AI 资助的企业社会责任（CSR）组织的网站中提取了关于将食物作为减少饮酒危害措施的信息。作为对照组，还搜索了非 AI 资助的健康网站（与食物和酒精相关内容的网站，n=16 个）。信息来源于网页内容和相关可下载文档。采用批判话语分析（CDA）将分析的文本置于更广泛的政治和社会背景中。分析是迭代进行的，在网站内部和网站之间进行持续比较。由三位研究人员确定话语主题。通过讨论确定话语元素，达成共识，然后制定最终的编码框架。“语气”分析用于评估个别网站的整体语气是被认为是支持还是反对饮酒。
AI 资助和非 AI 资助的网站之间存在一些共同点，两者似乎都使酒精消费正常化，并鼓励将食物作为一种措施来促进持续饮酒，以避免以导致短期伤害的方式饮酒，并防止或“治愈”宿醉。令人担忧的是，AI 资助和非 AI 资助的组织都共享了许多这样的叙述。然而，AI 资助的组织使用了一种将食物和酒精结合起来的话语，这种话语旨在宣传“适度”饮酒对健康有益，重点是特殊场合和个人责任。
在在线信息空间中，酒精消费（包括大量和有害的消费）经常被正常化。强调与酒精一起消费食物可能会使消费者更长时间地饮酒。健康专业人员和独立的健康组织应根据我们的发现审查他们提供的信息，并质疑为什么 AI 资助的组织，它们存在重大利益冲突和误导健康信息的历史，经常被赋予向公众传播健康信息的责任。
