Aims: The Finnish alcohol law was reformed in January 2018. The availability of alcoholic beverages in grocery stores increased as the legal limit for retail sales of alcoholic drinks was raised from 4.7% to 5.5% alcohol, and the requirement of production by fermentation was abolished. We analysed how the inclusion of strong beers, ciders, and ready-to-drink beverages in grocery stores was reflected in alcohol purchases, and how these changes differed by age, sex, level of education and household income. Design: The study sample included 47,066 loyalty card holders from the largest food retailer in Finland. The data consisted of longitudinal, individual-level information on alcohol purchases from grocery stores, covering the time period between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2018. The volumes of absolute alcohol during a calendar year from beers, ciders, ready-to-drink beverages, and in total, were calculated. Alcohol purchases in 2017 and 2018 were compared. Results: There was no overall change in the total alcohol (0.04 [95% CI −0.03, 0.11] litres/year) or beer purchases (0.05 [95% CI −0.02, 0.11] litres/year). Purchases of ready-to-drink beverages increased by 0.10 [95% CI 0.09, 0.11] litres/year (+ 84%). Total alcohol purchases increased in the three highest income groups, whereas they decreased in the two lowest groups (p for the interaction < 0.0001). Conclusions: The increased purchases of alcohol as ready-to-drink beverages were, on the average, compensated for by a decrease in purchases of other alcoholic beverages. Higher prices probably limited the purchases among lower income groups and younger consumers, while the increase was sharper in higher income groups.

中文翻译：

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授权销售烈性饮料后从杂货店购买酒类的变化：以2018年芬兰酒类立法改革为例

目的：芬兰酒精法于 2018 年 1 月进行了改革。随着酒精饮料零售的法定酒精含量上限从 4.7% 提高到 5.5%，以及通过发酵生产的要求被废除，杂货店酒精饮料的供应量增加. 我们分析了杂货店中烈性啤酒、苹果酒和即饮饮料的包含如何反映在酒类购买中，以及这些变化如何因年龄、性别、教育水平和家庭收入而异。设计：研究样本包括来自芬兰最大食品零售商的 47,066 名会员卡持有人。数据包括从杂货店购买酒类的纵向、个人层面信息，涵盖 2017 年 1 月 1 日至 2018 年 12 月 31 日期间。一个日历年中来自啤酒、苹果酒、即饮饮料的绝对酒精量, 并且总共计算了。比较了 2017 年和 2018 年的酒类采购情况。结果：总酒精量（0.04 [95% CI -0.03, 0.11] 升/年）或啤酒购买量（0.05 [95% CI -0.02, 0.11] 升/年）没有总体变化。即饮饮料的购买量每年增加 0.10 [95% CI 0.09, 0.11] 升 (+ 84%)。三个最高收入组的酒类购买总量增加，而在两个最低收入组中则减少（交互作用的p < 0.0001）。结论：平均而言，作为即饮饮料的酒精购买量的增加被其他酒精饮料购买量的减少所抵消。较高的价格可能限制了低收入群体和年轻消费者的购买，而高收入群体的增长更为明显。