Why you should think twice before reaching for that low-carb beer

As we head into the festive season, more of us are likely to be drinking alcohol. We might also be more likely to reach for a low-carb beer or sugar-free seltzer with our health in mind.

But a new Australian study suggests the “health halo” around such products is misleading and distracts from the harms that can come from even low levels of alcohol consumption.

A new Australian study suggests the “health halo” around alcohol products claiming to be low-carb or low-sugar is misleading.Credit: iStock

The study, published on Thursday by the George Institute for Global Health, found that “consumers are up to three times more likely to think alcoholic drinks with sugar- or carb-related claims are ‘healthy’ compared to those without.”

Notably, this attitude was most distinct among young Australians aged 18 to 24.

But Dr Alexandra Jones, food governance program lead at The George Institute for Global Health and conjoint senior lecturer at UNSW Sydney, says health-related marketing claims about low-sugar or reduced-carb drinks are misleading.

“There is no such thing as a healthier alcoholic drink,” she says.

This is because alcohol, at about seven calories per gram, contains more calories than sugar or carbs, both containing around four calories per gram.

A 2018 study conducted by Cancer Council Victoria and LiveLighter found that some beers marketed as “low-carb” contained a similar number of calories to those without such labels.

This is on top of the myriad health harms associated with alcohol, even at low levels of consumption.

The World Health Organisation has stated there is no safe level of alcohol consumption when it comes to health. The WHO classes alcohol as a Group-1 carcinogen alongside other substances like tobacco, asbestos and radiation.

And alcohol is associated with injuries and at least seven types of cancer, while a large study from earlier this year found that even light drinking was associated with an increase in cancer deaths among older adults in Britain.

The George Institute study relied on a national sample of 1356 Australians aged 18 and over who consumed alcohol at least twice a month. Participants responded to an online survey in which they were first shown “images of mock products with no sugar or carbs claims followed by the same products displaying common sugar and carbs claims, in styles mimicking real-world labels, to compare resulting perceptions of ‘healthiness’.”

Previous studies on how health-related marketing of alcohol affects consumer perception have yielded similar results.

Professor Emmanuel Kuntsche, director of La Trobe University’s Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, says health-related claims on alcohol products are the “equivalent of greenwashing” in other consumer industries.

“Alcohol is highly caloric. So it’s a bit of farce when you see these labels,” he says. “For the examples [in the survey], you can clearly see there’s 4.5 per cent alcohol in all the beverages. And that means there is, per definition, a lot of calories in both products.”

Examples of the mock low-carb and low-sugar alcohol products shown to participants in the George Institute of Global Health study.

As consumers become increasingly health-conscious, with many choosing to limit or cease their alcohol intake entirely, brands are evolving. One study from The University of Melbourne published this year looked at “virtue marketing” [the highlighting of certain aspects of a brand or product’s charitable, eco-conscious or health features] in new alcohol brands from 2013 to 2023, and found that 32.5 per cent of brands made health-oriented claims.

Jones says this is concerning, given the survey showed young people were more likely to perceive these drinks as healthier.

“Young people in general have been reducing their drinking, which is a very positive thing, but we are seeing them in particular increasingly targeted by this kind of marketing that appeals to their health consciousness.”

A sample of the mandatory health warning labels on alcohol in Ireland.

This study comes as government regulator Food Standards Australia and New Zealand is reviewing whether to allow companies to make explicit sugar claims on alcoholic beverages. Currently, there are only clear regulations about what carb-related claims alcohol brands are allowed to make, leaving sugar as a bit of a grey area.

“What we’re calling for is that as this research suggests, if we’re in the interest of promoting health, they must not do that. And we’d like to see all misleading nutrition claims removed from alcohol, including the carb claims,” says Jones.

Kuntsche would also like to see stronger health warnings on alcohol in Australia, where currently companies are only required to put a pregnancy-related warning. He points to Ireland, which in May last year became the first country to pass a law requiring cigarette-style cancer warnings on alcohol. But he is concerned by the fact that Australia, alongside other countries, is trying to stop the introduction of these cancer-risk warning labels.

“Society has the responsibility to inform consumers about the content of beverages and this can be easily done [through labelling]. The problem is political will ... it’s really putting economic interests on the back of the health of consumers,” he says.

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