Are Increases in Purchasing Alcohol-Free and Low-Alcohol Drinks Associated With Attempts to Cut Down on Alcohol Consumption in England? A Time Series Analysis.
4 affiliations
- 1Sheffield Addictions Research Group, School of Medicine and Population Health, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
- 2Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, UK.
- 3Department of Behavioural Science and Health, University College London, London, UK.
- 4SPECTRUM Consortium, Edinburgh, UK.
Abstract
Introduction
Alcohol-free and low-alcohol products (≤ 1.2% ABV; no/lo products) are a growing market in high-income countries, including Great Britain. These products may support people in reducing alcohol consumption, but their impact on public health is unclear. To address this gap, we analysed whether changes over time in the prevalence of households purchasing no/lo products were associated with at-risk drinkers reporting: (i) high motivation to cut down; (ii) cut down attempts; (iii) serious cut down attempts; and (iv) using no/lo products during attempts.Methods
We used time series analysis of continuous household purchasing panel data and monthly cross-sectional survey data from adults in England (2018-2023). The primary exposure was household prevalence of purchasing no/lo products. Outcomes focused on cut down attempts in the last 12 months amongst at-risk drinkers, defined as scoring ≥ 5 on the consumption questions or ≥ 8 on all questions of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test.Results
Changes in household no/lo purchasing were not significantly associated with population-level prevalence of high motivation to cut down (B: -0.001 percentage points [pp]; 95% CI -0.013 to 0.011), current or past 12-month attempts (B: -0.012 pp; 95% CI -0.025 to 0.000), most recent attempt being reported as serious (B: 0.004 pp; 95% CI -0.016 to 0.023) or use of no/lo during the most recent attempt (B: 0.012 pp; 95% CI -0.023 to 0.046). These narrow confidence intervals do not include clinically significant effect sizes.Discussion and conclusions
From 2018 to 2023, increases in the population-level prevalence of no/lo purchasing in England were not significantly associated with changes in the prevalence of cut down attempts amongst at-risk drinkers.
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BibTeX
@article{stevely2026increases,
title = {{Are Increases in Purchasing Alcohol-Free and Low-Alcohol Drinks Associated With Attempts to Cut Down on Alcohol Consumption in England? A Time Series Analysis.}},
author = {Abigail K Stevely and Inge Kersbergen and Jamie Brown and Ellen McGrane and Sarah Jackson and Luke B Wilson and John Holmes},
journal = {Drug and alcohol review},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1111/dar.70278},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42852694},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Are Increases in Purchasing Alcohol-Free and Low-Alcohol Drinks Associated With Attempts to Cut Down on Alcohol Consumption in England? A Time Series Analysis.
AU - Abigail K Stevely
AU - Inge Kersbergen
AU - Jamie Brown
AU - Ellen McGrane
AU - Sarah Jackson
AU - Luke B Wilson
AU - John Holmes
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
JO - Drug and alcohol review
DO - 10.1111/dar.70278
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42852694
AB - Introduction Alcohol-free and low-alcohol products (≤ 1.2% ABV; no/lo products) are a growing market in high-income countries, including Great Britain. These products may support people in reducing alcohol consumption, but their impact on public health is unclear. To address this gap, we analysed whether changes over time in the prevalence of households purchasing no/lo products were associated with at-risk drinkers reporting: (i) high motivation to cut down; (ii) cut down attempts; (iii) serious cut down attempts; and (iv) using no/lo products during attempts.Methods We used time series analysis of continuous household purchasing panel data and monthly cross-sectional survey data from adults in England (2018-2023). The primary exposure was household prevalence of purchasing no/lo products. Outcomes focused on cut down attempts in the last 12 months amongst at-risk drinkers, defined as scoring ≥ 5 on the consumption questions or ≥ 8 on all questions of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test.Results Changes in household no/lo purchasing were not significantly associated with population-level prevalence of high motivation to cut down (B: -0.001 percentage points [pp]; 95% CI -0.013 to 0.011), current or past 12-month attempts (B: -0.012 pp; 95% CI -0.025 to 0.000), most recent attempt being reported as serious (B: 0.004 pp; 95% CI -0.016 to 0.023) or use of no/lo during the most recent attempt (B: 0.012 pp; 95% CI -0.023 to 0.046). These narrow confidence intervals do not include clinically significant effect sizes.Discussion and conclusions From 2018 to 2023, increases in the population-level prevalence of no/lo purchasing in England were not significantly associated with changes in the prevalence of cut down attempts amongst at-risk drinkers.
SN - 0959-5236
SN - 1465-3362
ER -