Further media attention to the issue of consumer alcohol labelling has followed the release of further insights from the Bristol Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group (TARG) and the Global Drugs Survey (GDS) 2018.
Bristol TARG project findings
Alcohol Research UK has published findings from the University of Bristol's TARG which it has supported to deliver part of a project on alcohol labelling. The report 'Know your limit: labelling interventions to reduce alcohol consumption' sought to explore questions relating to the European Parliament’s call for ‘clear, concise and effective information on the effects of alcohol consumption and its health risks’. Labelling has been a contentious topic given a history of voluntary regulation which many argue has failed to deliver key information that alcohol consumers have a right to. The TARG report suggest that 'statutory regulation may be the only feasible method of ensuring alcohol labelling is clear and consistent across all producers' in the wake of the recent responsibility deal's now expired but contested labelling pledge.
The report identifies 'a poor understanding of the calorific and alcohol content' amongst consumers, with better labelling practices offering 'a relatively low-cost, population-level approach to providing consumers with information about the content and potential harms related to alcohol consumption'. It also identified relatively high support for labelling intervention, with 91% of participants agreeing alcohol unit information on drinks is a good idea, 81% agreeing for calorie information and 77% supporting health warnings, broadly consistent with other findings.
However only a small proportion of respondents suggested that they would drink less in response to unit information (14%), with only a slightly higher proportion saying they would cut back in response to calorie information (16%). The authors also note the possibility for unintended consequences such that 'unit information may be used to facilitate heavier drinking among some consumers'. Participants however reported higher motivation to drink less when viewing both cancer messages and negatively framed messages. The study also explored differing label approaches and noted Food Label Equivalent and Pie Chart conditions increased the accuracy of assessing the conceptual understanding of units. However no difference in accuracy between the control (Basic ABV) and Responsibility Deal conditions led the authors to state this 'clearly demonstrates that current unit labels could be improved'.
Global Drugs Survey 2018
Further labelling insights have also been gathered as part of the recent GDS 2018 a survey of 130,000 people from more than 40 countries including views on 7 different potential alcohol health warning messages. The press release says 'a high proportion of UK drinkers don’t believe the health warnings that are printed on alcohol packaging and further summarises the findings:
'Whilst it would appear that many UK drinkers are also reluctant to accept the fact that alcohol offers little or no health benefit to most people, with male drinkers being most likely to believe this. Over 1 in 3 British drinkers found messages relating to cancer, calories, heart health and violence as personally relevant to them.
1 in 5 (20.5%) of the 3,600 English people surveyed did not believe the warning that most people get little or no health benefit from moderate alcohol use. Almost 10% of those surveyed (9%) did not believe the message that drinking less reduces the risk of 7 different sorts of cancer. But almost half indicated such messages could get them thinking about drinking less.
Female drinkers under 25 have poor knowledge of the health risks associated with alcohol The survey found that women under 25 had particularly poor knowledge of the health risks associated with alcohol use. The data shows 65% of females under 25 polled did not know that drinking less alcohol reduces the risk of 7 different sorts of cancer. Almost 50% (46%) of women under 25 were unaware that even people with heavy alcohol use can significantly reduce their risk of liver disease by having two alcohol free days per week.'
Writing in a blog on the Conversation, GDS authors argue the case for legislating for mandatory labelling requirements, stating that whilst 'it’s true that information in isolation of other public health and health promotion strategies may be of limited value ... when it comes to motivating behaviour change, it can be helpful to raise awareness and challenge people’s beliefs about their behaviour.' However they also note that 'it is important to acknowledge evidence that health messages that try to induce fear often backfire' as has been seen with some smoking messages.
Where next?
Health groups may hope that the announcement of a new alcohol strategy brings the possibility of an end to voluntary self-regulation on the issue of labelling, though the Department of Health has reportedly given manufacturers until September 2019 to update labelling advice in view of amended guidelines released last year. Certain industry groups are however likely to continue to argue that self-regulation does work, and further argue that making unit and calorie information available online is sufficient. Whilst minimum pricing looks set to continue as the headline alcohol policy issue, it seems labelling may not be far behind.
Comments