Energy labelling of alcoholic drinks: An important or inconsequential obesity policy?

Robinson, Eric ORCID: 0000-0003-3586-5533, Boyland, Emma ORCID: 0000-0001-8384-4994, Evans, Rebecca, Finlay, Amy, Halsall, Lauren, Humphreys, Gabrielle, Langfield, Tess ORCID: 0000-0003-0552-1019, McFarland-Lesser, India, Patel, Zina and Jones, Andrew (2022) Energy labelling of alcoholic drinks: An important or inconsequential obesity policy? OBESITY SCIENCE & PRACTICE, 9 (2). pp. 75-86.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/osp4.638

Abstract

Alcohol is calorie dense, but unlike food products, alcoholic drinks tend to be exempt from nutritional labelling laws that require energy content information to be displayed on packaging or at point of purchase. This review provides a perspective on the likely efficacy of alcoholic drink energy labelling as a public health policy to reduce obesity and discusses key questions to be addressed by future research. First, the contribution that alcohol makes to population level daily energy intake and obesity is outlined. Next, consumer need for alcohol energy labelling and the potential impacts on both consumer and industry behavior are discussed. Pathways and mechanisms by which energy labelling of alcoholic drinks could reduce obesity are considered, as well as possible unintended consequences of alcoholic drink energy labelling. Would widespread energy labelling of alcoholic drinks reduce obesity? The unclear effect that alcohol has on population level obesity, the modest contribution calories from alcohol make to daily energy intake and limited impact nutritional labelling policies tend to have on behavior, suggest alcohol energy labelling may have limited impact on population obesity prevalence as a standalone policy. However, there are a number of questions that will need to be answered by future research to make definitive conclusions on the potential for alcohol energy labelling policies to reduce obesity.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	alcohol, beverage, calories, drink, energy labelling, nutritional labelling, obesity
Divisions:	Faculty of Health and Life Sciences Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Population Health
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	17 Jan 2023 08:41
Last Modified:	14 Apr 2023 04:23
DOI:	10.1002/osp4.638
Open Access URL:	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/o...
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3167064