Japanese Study Suggests Non-Alcoholic Beverages May Help Reduce Alcohol Consumption
In a recent study, drinkers were offered free non-alcoholic drinks, which helped them curb drinking alcohol, even up to 8 weeks after the study was concluded.
I’ve taken great measures to align my approach at Positive Damage on drinking mindfully with the science. But I haven’t yet reported on all the exciting studies that are happening to explore how mindful drinking can be applied to public health. Therefore, starting with this piece, I’ll be introducing more science reporting where I explore important scientific developments in mindful drinking and no- and low-alcohol drinks alongside my usual personal essays, guides, recipes, and profiles.
Either way, I hope you enjoy and know that I greatly value your comments and likes. These are part of what helps me determine what topics matter most to you.
On a surface level, it makes sense. Drinking non-alcoholic beers and cocktails would necessarily reduce alcohol consumption, if only because there’s a finite amount of liquid one can drink. Non-alcoholic beers, though they often have less calories, can feel as though they “rent” as much space as their alcoholic brethren.
This should be a good thing. However, non-alcoholic drinks are not without controversy. Whether non-alcoholic beverages are being used as alibi marketing or potentially increasing the risk of relapse for those with alcohol use disorder, organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO) have advised caution when it comes to adopting them as a panacea for changing the way we drink alcohol. However, a new study from Japan, which added non-alcoholic beer and cocktails as an option for alcohol drinkers, found that it significantly reduced the amount of alcohol participants drank and continued its effects on the drinkers for up to 8 weeks after the study concluded.
In the recent study, Effect of provision of non-alcoholic beverages on alcohol consumption: a randomized controlled study by researchers at the University of Tsukuba, published in BMC Medicine, 123 participants in a random control trial were either offered a choice of non-alcoholic beverages and asked to track their drinking or in the control group just asked to track their drinking for 12 weeks. According to the study, participants in the intervention group were not blinded to their non-alcoholic options so that they could choose the drinks they preferred, which better approximated the real conditions of daily life.
In the 12 weeks the trial ran, participants in the intervention group received 3 allocations of non-alcoholic drinks every 4 weeks. As I previously mentioned, they were able to choose drinks they preferred from a selection of 22 products made by 4 manufacturers and then delivered by mail. The products were chosen from the top ranked beer- and cocktail-flavored products, which were determined according to their sales ranking in the Japanese market in 2021.
So, they got the good stuff.
According to the study, alcohol consumption was reduced by an average of 11.5 grams per day. That’s close to one standard drink a day, which in the U.S. is measured at 14 grams of alcohol. The effect lasted until week 20, although that could indicate that the beverages were rationed by participants instead of consumed within the 12 week period. The control group also reduced the amount of their alcohol consumption by 2.7 grams, which researchers suggest may be the result of keeping a drink diary. This might indicate that the effect comes from both the apportion of non-alcoholic beverages and keeping a drinking diary.
Researchers were cautiously optimistic about non-alcoholic drinks being “…a strategic option for reducing alcohol consumption among people with excessive drinking.” However, this is the first study of its kind, previous studies measured adoption of non-alcoholic beverages based on their availability. It’s also a small study comparatively and larger studies will have to be done to assess its applicability both to the general population and internationally.
There’s much more research to be done in this area, but it’s welcome news for those who advocate no- and low-alcohol beverages as a means of reducing alcohol consumption and a good first step to determining its efficacy as a public health practice.
Derek Brown is an author, award-winning bartender, NASM-certified wellness coach, and founder of Positive Damage, Inc.
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