Rapid literature review on the impact of health messaging and product information on alcohol labelling

Background and aim Alcohol labelling enables people to make informed decisions about the products they purchase and consume. This rapid review explores the impact of health messaging and product information on consumer attention, comprehension, recall, judgment and behavioural compliance in relation to alcohol use. Methods The rapid review adopted a multi-faceted search strategy to identify primary studies on health messaging and/or product information on alcohol packaging, and the impact of these on consumer-related outcomes. Results The review provides support for large, colourful labels on the front of alcohol products and the use of plain packaging to increase the visibility of health messaging. It also supports the use of explicit, negatively-framed statements that link alcohol to specific diseases. Colour-coded schemes and pictorial warnings may further optimize the effectiveness of alcohol labels. We did not find sufficient evidence to support the effectiveness of product information alone in influencing consumerattention, comprehension, recall, judgment and behavioural compliance. Conclusion Well-designed alcohol labels can positively influence consumers’ attention, comprehension, recall, judgment and behavioural compliance. The findings have implications for alcohol labelling research and policy.Output Status: Forthcoming/Available Onlin

The impact of minority ethnic businesses on the spatial character of London’s high streets

Research shows that a variety of building types, sizes and street morphologies can support a diversified mix of uses and thus contribute to the vitality of town centres. Other studies have highlighted the special role of minority ethnic businesses in this context. This study set out to examine the relationship between spatial accessibility, commercial diversity (as a measure of land use mixing) and minority ethnic business (MEB) diversity in ten of London’s high streets. We found that streets with a significant MEB presence were more likely to benefit from commercial diversity and that the sampled MEB units were measurably smaller in size. We also found the location of larger clusters of MEB businesses to be more accessible, both locally and across the city. The study also found three distinct types of MEB centres: ranging from high streets with a small MEB presence, others with a high rate of MEB mixing, and a third type: the ‘ethnic marketplace’, with a singular ethnic character. We conclude that greater attention should be given to designing street accessibility, lot configuration, mixed building sizes, and land use mixing, so as to serve the long-term economic and social vitality of local town centres

Development-driven archaeology: bane or boon for bioarchaeology?

Summary. Through much of the world there is a move towards policies of in situ preservation of the buried archaeological heritage, typically supported by small-scale investigative excavations (often called 'evaluations'). In this review we attempt to judge the success of these policies in England and Wales, from the standpoint of bioarchaeology. We consider particularly the value of data for plant and insect macrofossils from trial excavations associated with development (a) in producing information which contributes towards research agendas, and (b) as a guide to the preservational condition of organic archaeological deposits