This type of information leads more people to believe that an alcoholic product is not harmful to their health
Are you concerned that your alcohol consumption is damaging your health, and believe that an alcoholic beverage with a nutrition facts panel is a better choice than one without? If so, you’re wrong, but you’re in good company, as this is a belief held by almost 3 in 10 people, according to a study just published in the journal Preventive Medicine.
In Canada, beverages containing less than 0.5% alcohol must carry a Nutrition Facts table. Beverages containing more than 0.5% alcohol are exempt from this requirement, unless a nutrition claim appears on the label. Where there is a table, regulations require it to have the same format as that found on food.
"Some alcoholic products, including ready-to-drink beverages, choose to display a nutrition facts table, but the vast majority of alcoholic beverages do not," points out Lana Vanderlee, professor at Laval University’s School of Nutrition and researcher at Laval University’s Centre NUTRISS.
Several approaches have been considered to improve the transparency of nutritional information on alcoholic products, she continues. "Consumers have a right to know what’s in these products, but we don’t yet know the best way to do it."
To advance knowledge in this area, Professor Vanderlee and three Ontario colleagues conducted an online survey of 3,880 people. For the purposes of the study, four labels were designed to be affixed to the back of a bottle of wine.
The first featured no nutritional information, while the second carried a standard nutritional information table. Labels 3 and 4 presented much the same information (calories, sugar), but one in text form and the other as a table whose title made no reference to nutrition.
professor Vanderlee explains: "Labels 3 and 4 are similar to the proposals currently being studied in the United States. Canada has not initiated any consultation on this subject, but what happens in the U.S. in the area of food often has a knock-on effect on this side of the border."
Each person who took part in the study was asked to view one of the four labels and, subsequently, to answer the question "Is it good or bad for your health to drink this wine regularly?".
Analysis showed that label 2, the one with the nutritional information table, garnered the most positive responses (28%). Label 1, with no information, received 17%. Labels 3 and 4 received 24% and 18% positive responses respectively.
the presence of nutritional information on the label leads more people to conclude that the product may be good for their health," notes Professor Vanderlee. This effect is more pronounced for the label that displays the same type of nutritional information table as those for food."
Alcohol is not a food
These results are somewhat puzzling, admits the researcher. "I’ve always defended the idea that people have a right to know what they’re consuming. However, in the case of alcoholic beverages, nutritional information creates the false impression that these products can be good for you, which is not the case. Alcohol is a major contributor to mortality and disease, including seven types of cancer, and there is no safe minimum consumption level."
If Canada were to choose a model for a label to be affixed to alcoholic beverages, which of the four proposals tested should be chosen? "We would have to avoid labels that give the impression that alcohol is a food because it isn’t. The most important thing would be to make sure the label carries a warning about the health harms of alcohol, like the one found on tobacco or cannabis products."
Lana Vanderlee is the first author of the study published in Preventive Medicine. Other signatories are Christine White and David Hammond, from the University of Waterloo, and Erin Hobin, from the University of Toronto.
