Tools- of Changes

Alcohol Calorie Labelling Would Impact Drinking Attitudes and Behaviour in England, Says National Survey

A sizeable proportion of hazardous drinkers indicated that they would change their consumption practices if mandatory calorie labelling was introduced. Promoting more positive attitudes to calorie labelling might lead to stronger intentions to reduce consumption. Mandatory calorie labelling of alcoholic beverages may make a modest contribution to energy intake and the maintenance of health weight, particularly among heavier drinkers.

• A cross-sectional national telephone survey of community-dwelling adults was conducted in England between November 2022 and January 2023.

• Data were collected from 4,683 adults over 18 years old, of whom 24.7% were non-drinkers; 77.6% of alcohol drinkers were categorised as low-risk and 22.4% as hazardous drinkers according to the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test questionnaire.

• Comparisons were made between non-drinkers, low-risk drinkers and hazardous drinkers, with analyses adjusted for age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and education. Attitudes to calorie labelling were generally positive, but were less favourable among alcohol drinkers than non-drinkers. Hazardous drinkers were more accurate in their estimations of the calorie content of wine, cider and spirits than non-drinkers (p less than 0.0001).

• Overall, 46.4% of drinkers indicated that they would change their drinking patterns if calorie labelling was introduced, and this response was more common among hazardous than low-risk drinkers (95% Confidence Interval), adjusting for age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and education.

• Compared with low-risk drinkers, hazardous drinkers stated that they would be more likely to drink fewer alcoholic beverages, to drink alcohol less often, to choose lower calorie drinks and to do more exercise