Whether it’s the “please drink responsibly” small print now found at the bottom of advertising hoardings for beer or vodka, or the Office for National Statistics revising its safe consumption levels, everyone seems to want us to sip a little more slowly.

But is there any way to wean people off products that are legal, easily accessible and widely considered to be essential to a decent social life?

In its new report on binge drinking, the market research firm Mintel suggests a series of possible ways to reduce alcohol consumption.

Some of them, such as warning men of the “unsavouriness” of one-night-stands or the fate that befell George Best, seem doomed to failure.

But away from public health messages that will always prompt accusations of “nanny state” tactics, the study also encourages manufacturers to change consumers’ behaviour by changing their products.

It suggests promoting wine boxes as a way to drink just one glass a day while keeping the rest fresh, producing low-alcohol varieties or making bottles smaller than the usual 75cl.

Would these catch on – and even if they would, should we just be left alone to enjoy our drinks?

By Martin Beckford, Social Affairs Correspondent

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health