TOPLINE:

Off-trade purchases of alcohol-free and low-alcohol (no/lo) drinks in Great Britain increased between 2018 and 2023 but were primarily made by low-risk households of higher social class. A smaller group of older, higher-risk households purchased no/lo drinks more frequently.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a latent profile analysis (LPA) of household purchasing data for alcoholic and no/lo drinks purchased in the off-trade from 2018 to 2023 in Great Britain, including 30,401 households in 2018 and 28,254 households in 2023.
• Purchasing occasions were categorised into three types: no/lo drinks only, alcohol only, or no/lo drinks alongside alcohol, with data on volume, cost, and purchase timing collected.
• Households were classified by alcohol risk levels based on mean weekly units of alcohol purchased across the year per adult: non-drinker (0 units), low-risk level (14 or fewer units), increasing risk level (more than 14 up to 35 units), and high-risk level (more than 35 units).
• Sociodemographic characteristics including age, social class, region, and ethnicity were compared across purchasing subgroups.

TAKEAWAY:

• From 2018 to 2023, the proportion of alcohol-only purchasing occasions fell from 97% to 95%, whereas that of no/lo-only purchasing occasions rose from 1.4% to 2.7%.
• An LPA of households from 2023 identified three classes: (a) no/lo triers (53%), with a median of 2.1 no/lo servings per adult per year, 95% of whom were non‑drinkers or purchased alcohol at a low‑risk level; (b) occasional purchasers (34%), with a median of 7.5 no/lo servings per adult per year, 20% of whom purchased alcohol at increasing or high‑risk levels; and (c) dual purchasers (13%), with a median of 37.8 no/lo servings per adult per year, 29% of whom purchased alcohol at increasing or high‑risk levels.
• Dual and occasional purchasers were older and more likely to be White than no/lo triers: 60% and 54% vs 49% were aged 55 years or older (P < .001 and P = .010, respectively) and 97% and 97% vs 94% were White (P = .014 and P = .007, respectively).
• Purchases of no/lo drinks only were most frequent on Sundays to Wednesdays and lowest on Thursdays and Fridays, whereas purchases of no/lo drinks alongside alcohol peaked on Fridays and Saturdays.

IN PRACTICE:

"Although the no/lo market continues to expand, these products currently offer limited population-level harm reduction, as they are predominantly purchased infrequently and by higher socio-economic status households who purchase alcohol at low-risk levels," the authors wrote. 

"Nevertheless, for the smaller group of older, higher-risk households found to purchase no/lo drinks more frequently, these beverages could offer a targeted tool for harm reduction," they added. 

SOURCE:

The study was led by Oscar Rousham, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, England. It was published online on April 23 in Addiction.

LIMITATIONS:

Data were at the household level and reflected purchases rather than individual consumption. Coverage was limited to off‑trade purchases, and purchases may not have reflected immediate consumption (eg, multipacks or large spirit bottles). LPA could not be weighted due to software constraints.

DISCLOSURES:

This study was supported by funds from the Wellcome Doctoral Training Centre in Public Health Economics and Decision Science, University of Sheffield, and National Institute for Health and Care Research Public Health Research Programme. One author declared receiving research funding from Alcohol Change UK, which has commercial partners in the alcohol, beverage, and snack industries. Complete details are available in the original article.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.