Type and prevalence of nutrition-related claims on alcoholic ready-to-drink beverages

Abstract

Type and prevalence of nutrition-related claims on alcoholic ready-to-drink beverages Bella Strauli, ¨ 1, * Leon Booth,1,2 Nadia Laznik,1 Simone Pettigrew1,2 1 The George Institute for Global Health, Australia 2 University of New South Wales, Sydney Submitted: 3 September 2023; Revision requested: 26 October 2023; Accepted: 28 October 2023 Abstract Objective: To examine the extent of nutrition-related claims on ready-to-drink (RTD) alcohol products to provide insights into the types and prevalence of claims across the category. Methods: Product type, alcohol content, and presence/type of nutrition-related claims (n=491) information was collected, March-May 2022. Chi-square analyses with pairwise z-tests were used to identify differences in claim prevalence by product type. Spearman’s correlation was used to assess the relationship between alcohol content and number of claims. Results: Approximately half (52%) of RTDs displayed at least one claim, with the most common claims referring to naturalness (32%), sugar- (31%), and energy-content (32%). Hard seltzers displayed the most claims (96%, M=3.4 claims/product, SD=1.6). There was a moderate negative correlation between alcohol content and number of claims (r =-.43, p<.001). Conclusion: Results show the extensive use of nutrition-related claims on RTDs in Australia, particularly for hard seltzers. Implications for public health: Nutrition-related claims have the potential to mislead consumers about the healthiness of alcohol products and more stringent regulation of nutrition-related claims is needed. Keywords: alcohol, labelling, nutrition claims, ready-to-drink products, prevention