Calorie labels on alcoholic drinks could help heavy drinkers reduce their alcohol intake, a new study has found.
Researchers in behavioural science at University College London (UCL) asked over 4,600 people about their drinking habits. The respondents self-identified as either non-drinkers (around 25%) low-risk drinkers (78%) and hazardous drinkers 22% based on a validated alcohol use disorders questionnaire.
Helping high risk drinkers cut down
Among the heavier drinkers, who were mostly men, 54% said they would change their drink consumption if alcoholic beverages were labelled with the amount of calories they contain.
Andrew Steptoe, the study’s lead author and head of UCL’s behavioural science and health research department, said in a statement that the findings indicate that “labelling might help target higher-risk drinkers who are getting a greater proportion of calories from alcohol and are more likely to gain excess weight as a result.”
Industry self-regulation not enough
In remarks to Euronews, Dr Katherine Severi, chief executive of the Institute of Alcohol Studies, said the study shows “people want to know the calories in the alcohol they drink and that it would potentially help inform their decisions”. Noting that “Alcohol is linked to more than 200 health conditions including cancer, liver disease, and high blood pressure,” she went on to call for “mandatory labelling” arguing that “industry self-regulation” would not fulfill consumers’ “right to know what they are consuming.”
That right is currently upheld by a 2011 European Union directive that requires nutritional content labelling on food and beverages, but it does not apply to drinks containing over 1.2 per cent alcohol.
Advertising, availability, tax, and price all have part to play too
When all the respondents were taken into account, not just the big drinkers, 46% said they would change how much or what they drank in response to calorie labels. More than a quarter of heavy drinkers said they would choose lower-calorie drinks, while only one in six said they would drink alcohol less frequently, according to the survey.
Calling the results of the survey “encouraging” Jamie Brown, a study co-author and professor of behavioural science at UCL, nonetheless pointed out that a coherent set of policies to tackle problem drinking is needed, not just a sticky label. “It is unlikely that alcohol calorie labelling in isolation would contribute substantially to the UK government’s strategy to reduce harms from alcohol and obesity,” he said, suggesting “It might have a positive role as part of a more comprehensive approach, including regulation on advertising, availability, taxation and price”.
