Trends in use of alcohol-free or low alcohol drinks in attempts to reduce alcohol consumption in Great Britain, 2020-2024: a population-based study

Introduction

Sales and availability of alcohol-free and low alcohol drinks have increased in the UK since 2020. This study aimed to assess trends in the use of alcohol-free and low alcohol drinks to reduce alcohol consumption among people who drink at increasing and higher risk in Great Britain. The study compared trajectories across different subgroups from 2020 to 2024.

Methods

Data were drawn from the Smoking and Alcohol Toolkit Study, which surveys adults monthly across Great Britain about their drinking behaviour. The study included 9397 adults with an AUDIT-C score of 5 or above who attempted to reduce their alcohol consumption in the past year. The analysis used regression analyses to assess time trends in using alcohol-free and low alcohol drinks to cut down overall and among subgroups (eg, gender and age), and in using evidence-based support compared with alcohol-free and low alcohol drinks in attempts to cut down alcohol consumption.

Results

The proportion reporting the use of alcohol-free and low alcohol drinks to reduce alcohol consumption increased from 35.0% (95% confidence interval (CI): 31.8, 38.4) in October 2020 to 43.9% (95% CI: 40.9, 46.9) in August 2024 in serious attempts and from 25.5% (95% CI: 23.2, 28.0) to 38.8% (95% CI: 37.2, 40.4) in any attempt to cut down. Among subgroups, trajectories were mostly comparable. Noticeably, older adults first had lower prevalence of using alcohol-free and low alcohol drinks than young and middle-aged adults but had larger increases over time. While the proportion of participants using alcohol-free and low alcohol drinks in attempts to cut down consumption increased, the proportion using neither alcohol-free/low alcohol drinks nor evidence-based support decreased, and the proportion using evidence-based support, either alone or in combination with alcohol-free/low alcohol drinks, remained low.

Conclusion

The growing use of alcohol-free/low alcohol drinks to reduce alcohol consumption among people at risk of increasing and higher risk drinking in Great Britain highlights the urgent need for more research to establish their effectiveness for alcohol reduction and to inform public health policy. While the use of alcohol-free/low alcohol drinks to cut down rose, the use of evidence-based support remained limited.