Project description
Large-scale study investigates disease comparing moderate drinking versus abstention
The debate about the pros and cons of alcohol consumption has captured headlines for several decades with often-changing advice. The ERC-funded UNATI project aims to conduct a large ‘non-inferiority’ randomised controlled trial in which more than 10 000 drinkers will be studied and moderate drinking is assumed to be non-inferior to abstention. Subjects will be divided into two groups advised either to abstain or to drink in moderation, avoid binge drinking, preferentially choose red wine with meals, and spread consumption out over the course of a week. Incidence of diseases including cardiovascular events, cancer, liver disease and depression will be quantified.
Objective
Europeans are the largest alcohol consumers. Policymakers and clinicians are currently perplexed on how to reduce alcohol harms in drinkers, due to contradictory guidelines: abstention is proposed as the healthiest option by many health advocates, stating that there is no safe level of alcohol intake; but most nonrandomized studies found lower all-cause mortality and other outcomes in moderate drinkers than in abstainers among subjects >50 years. However, potential biases may compromise these latter studies, particularly when effects are null or moderate. A large pragmatic randomized controlled trial (RCT) of realistic advice aimed to change behavior addressing clinical endpoints is long overdue. It will provide first-level evidence to confront the harms of one of the most widely used substances by humankind. Business issues and conflicts of interests are also at stake.
We propose a 4-year non-inferiority RCT with >10,000 drinkers (men 50-70 years or women 55-70 years consuming >=3 but <40 drinks/wk). To reduce alcohol-associated harms they will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to 2 advices: 1) abstention; 2) moderation (<=7 drinks/wk (females) and <=14 drinks/wk (males)), and avoidance of binge drinking, with preferential consumption of red wine with meals, and consumption spread out throughout the week. Moderate consumption is hypothesized to be non-inferior. No participant will be invited to increase his/her alcohol intake.
The primary endpoint will be a global index of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular events, cancer, liver disease, depression, dementia, diabetes, tuberculosis or other major infection or injury.
The difficulties for feasibility are significant, but more complex large behavioral trials developed by the principal investigator (PREDIMED and PREDIMED-Plus, two largest nutritional trials conducted in Europe) have attained sufficient compliance in changing not only one aspect of the dietary pattern (alcohol) but many aspects of diet and lifestyle.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- social sciences sociology demography mortality
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine endocrinology diabetes
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine pneumology tuberculosis
- medical and health sciences basic medicine neurology dementia
- natural sciences chemical sciences organic chemistry alcohols
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2022-ADG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
31080 PAMPLONA
Spain
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.