A team of academics has produced fresh projections on the impact on Scottish society of a 45p per unit, 5p more than previous assumptions they had made during research for the government.
The experts from Sheffield University found that although there would be shifts in overall alcohol consumption and improvements to hospital admissions and crime rates, other measures such as deaths, lost workdays and the extra amounts paid out by harmful drinkers do not.
Overall harm reduction over 10 years is virtually identical, the new report found.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon published the latest findings to Holyrood's Health and Sport Committee, just a week after the experts answered questions from MSPs.
She promised a final vote on the issue before the Government names its proposed minimum price, and whether this would be subject to rises in line with inflation in future.
However, by allowing a figure of 45p per unit to be used as an "indicative" figure in the report, ministers were sending out a signal that it would be of this order.
The Sheffield researchers have tested a range of figures from 25p to 70p and three years ago based assumptions on 40p.
On the price per unit and inflation issues, Ms Sturgeon said: "We're still considering at this stage what the best approach would be. I know Professor [Timothy] Stockwell [director of the Centre for Addictions Research at the University of Victoria, British Columbia] has expressed the view that having some kind of automatic link to inflation is best because people get used to it, it just happens automatically. There is some force to that argument.
"We wouldn't necessarily be sure that having an approach that just saw it rise with inflation would keep the price proportionate which is obviously required in terms of EU law. For example, inflation could be going up, consumption could be coming down. That would take me at this stage probably towards the alternative which would be at set intervals."
Ms Sturgeon has conceded the new legislation could be open to legal challenge but said this is no different from any legislation coming out of the Scottish Parliament.
She had suggested that reforms which brought an end to the use of cross-subsidies to use cheap drink as enticing loss-leaders could actually bring down the cost of ordinary groceries.
