We've all had those mornings-after-the-night-befores, suffering at our desks and wishing someone had told us that the third round of tequila slammers was a bad idea. Why didn't anyone intervene?Well, next time you find yourself headed to the pub, maybe your smartphone will provide the sobering intervention you need."AlcoChange" is a new app developed by a team of liver specialists at University College London (UCL). It measures alcohol intake with a breathalyser that attaches to smartphones and uses GPS tracking to send text messages that encourage users not to drink.It was announced last Sunday that the team have been awarded funding from The Health Foundation charity to trial the app at the Royal Free Hospital in London, where 60 patients with alcohol-related liver disease will use AlcoChange to monitor their drinking habits and attempt to cut down on alcohol consumption.The app prompts users to record the drinks they have consumed and monitor alcohol levels using the breathalyser. It then matches this data with time and location to measure factors around excessive drinking. The information is used to "establish the most effective times to send patients messages reminding them not to drink" and send back to hospital staff to "closely monitor whether patients are drinking too much."According to UK alcohol charity Drinkaware, alcohol-related liver disease accounts for 37 percent of liver disease deaths, with figures showing that victims are getting younger. The UCL researchers hope that technology like AlcoChange could help combat this.Dr Gautam Mehta, liver specialist and one of the creators of the app, told MUNCHIES that smartphones have an important part to play in healthcare. He explained: "We developed AlcoChange because smartphones are increasingly being used by all members of society, and apps have been shown to have positive effects on health behaviour. It also provided us with an opportunity to develop the smartphone breathalyser which accompanies the app for alcohol self-monitoring."Alcohol charities have already championed the use of apps to help self-monitor alcohol consumption, with the hope that increased awareness will lead to consumers drinking less. Alcohol Concern's Dry January app and Drinkaware's app both work on the basis of users inputting how much they have drunk and receiving personalised feedback.Elaine Hindal, chief executive of Drinkaware, told MUNCHIES: "If you are trying to keep your drinking habits under control, it is important to set goals and consider what motivates you, and take note of what your triggers are."Using this self-monitoring and feedback method, Mehta is positive about the outcome of AlcoChange's 15-month trial. He said: "We are hopeful it will lead to a considerable reduction in alcohol use for some participants. These patients, who have already been admitted with an alcohol-related problem, have the most to gain from cutting back."The UCL team hope that AlcoChange will help improve treatment for alcohol-related diseases, as well as change the way people think about consuming alcohol.
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