Alcohol-free drinks

These days, there are more alcohol-free drinks to choose from than ever before. And we’re not talking about soft drinks like lemonade, fruit juice or water.

Alcohol-free drinks are substitutes for standard alcoholic drinks like beer, wine, cider, or spirits like gin.¹ They are marketed and promoted as a replacement for these standard alcoholic drinks, so aim to recreate their taste, look and feel – they often have similar looking adverts, cans or bottles.

Alcohol-free drinks can actually contain a small amount of alcohol (up to 0.5% ABV), so they aren’t suitable if you want or need to avoid alcohol completely, or for children.

Because they have less alcohol in them, switching from full-strength to alcohol-free can be a good way to cut your units - but only if you aren’t adding them on top of any alcohol you usually drink. One in five UK adults who drink alcohol use alcohol-free drinks as a way of moderating their alcohol consumption.² 

How alcohol-free can help you cut your overall consumption

How much alcohol is in an alcohol-free drink?

Although some ‘alcohol-free’ drinks don’t contain any alcohol whatsoever, most actually contain a small amount – so they aren’t suitable if you need or want to avoid alcohol completely.

Government guidance in England says that alcohol-free drinks may contain up to 0.05% ABV (alcohol by volume).³ A 500ml can of a 0.05% ABV drink would contain 0.025ml of alcohol - one fortieth (1/40) of a unit of alcohol.

But because this is voluntary guidance rather than law, some drinks labelled as ‘alcohol-free’ contain up to 0.5% ABV.

A 500ml can of 0.5% ABV beer labelled as alcohol-free would contain 0.25 units (a quarter of a unit) of alcohol.

Although alcohol-free drinks don’t legally have to specify exactly how much alcohol they have in them, most do. So, if you want to check, a good place to start is by reading the label.

The UK Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines advise that, if you choose to drink, it’s safest for both men and women to drink no more than 14 units a week, spread over three or more days with several drink-free days, and no bingeing.

Do you know your units from your ABV?

How many calories do alcohol-free drinks have?

Alcohol contains around seven calories a gram - almost as many as pure fat.⁴ 

So, because an alcohol-free drink has less alcohol in it (or sometimes no alcohol at all), it’s possible that switching could play a part in cutting your calorie intake – which could be helpful if you’re trying to lose weight.

But it’s important to understand that the calories in any drink don’t just come from alcohol, so you only ‘save’ calories if the substitute drink is a ‘low calorie’ one.

That’s because the amount of sugar in alcohol-free drinks varies - in much the same way that a regular lemonade would have a lot more sugar than a diet one.

So, while the reduced amount of alcohol in an alcohol-free drink might be a step in the right direction towards a lower-calorie drink, it’s important to look at the whole picture.

The calories people consume through alcohol are usually additional to the calories they consume in the rest of their diet, rather than a replacement. That means you could be having lots of extra calories in your drinks without thinking about it, and that will lead to weight gain.⁵

Across the UK, the law says all low alcohol drinks with 1.2% ABV or less (including all alcohol-free options) need to display nutritional information on the label.^6,7 So, if you’re counting calories as part of your healthy diet or a weight loss programme, choosing alcohol-free means you should always have the calorie information at your fingertips.

And since April 2022 in England, bigger chains of takeaways, restaurants, pubs and online stores need to display calorie information for non-pre-packed food and drinks too - including all drinks with less than 1.2% ABV.⁸ Scotland and Wales are both consulting to bring in similar laws.^9,10

Track your units and calories with the MyDrinkaware app

Labelling for alcohol-free drinks

Many alcohol-free drinks sold in the UK are less than 0.05% ABV. This is because there is government guidance suggesting how producers should use the term ‘alcohol-free’,¹² to help consumers make an informed choice.

But because these rules are only voluntary guidance rather than law, some drinks labelled as ‘alcohol-free’ contain up to 0.5% ABV. The government guidance also recommends all of these drinks include the alcohol by volume on the label (or state they contain no alcohol).

And all low alcohol drinks with 1.2% ABV or less (including all alcohol-free options) need to display nutritional information on the label.

You might see ‘alcohol-free’ written as ‘alcohol free’ without a hyphen too – but they are the same thing.

How can I use alcohol-free drinks to reduce my drinking?

Substituting standard alcoholic drinks for alcohol-free products could help you reduce the amount of alcohol you drink, and keep to the UK low risk drinking guidelines - which brings important health benefits. But this only works if you don’t add alcohol-free products to any alcohol you usually drink, otherwise you’ll be drinking more alcohol in total - not less.

Getting into the habit of drinking fewer standard alcoholic drinks and replacing them with alcohol-free or low alcohol alternatives can form part of a sustainable approach to cutting down on alcohol in the longer-term.¹³

Alcohol-free drinks aren’t suitable for everyone though. They may not be considered acceptable if you avoid alcohol for religious reasons, and they aren’t recommended for anyone who is pregnant, dependent on alcohol, or under 18s.

It’s also important to remember that alcohol-free drinks are often high in sugar – so they aren’t automatically a ‘healthy’ or low-calorie choice.

Alcohol and sugar

What’s the difference with ‘low alcohol’ and ‘non-alcoholic’ drinks?

Alcohol-free, low alcohol and non-alcoholic drinks are all different. But depending on where you look, these different types of drinks can sometimes be talked about as one thing – with terms like ‘nolo alcohol’ or ‘no and low’.

This can be confusing, as there is a substantial difference in the amount of alcohol between the lowest strength ‘alcohol-free’ drinks which can contain no alcohol at all, and ‘low alcohol’ drinks, which can have as much as 1.2% ABV. 

There are other terms used in this area too, including ‘non-alcoholic’, ‘de-alcoholised’ and ‘reduced alcohol’. Here’s a summary of what they all mean:

• Alcohol-free
  Many, although not all, producers follow government guidance that says alcohol-free drinks can be up to 0.05% ABV.¹³ In practice, you might see alcohol-free drinks that are up to 0.5% ABV for sale. Sometimes these types of drinks might be described as ‘zero alcohol’, or ‘0.0’.
• Low alcohol
  Government guidance says low alcohol drinks can be up to 1.2% ABV. Find out more about low alcohol drinks here.
• Non-alcoholic
  The term ‘non-alcoholic’ should only be used to refer to communion wine according to government guidelines,¹⁴ rather than other types of drink. But, sometimes you might see it used incorrectly, as a substitute term for ‘alcohol-free’.
• De-alcoholised
  This term can be used to describe a drink that was made in a similar way to a standard alcoholic drink, and then had the alcohol extracted. Government guidance says these drinks should not be more than 0.5% ABV.
• Reduced alcohol
  There isn’t an agreed legal definition of how much alcohol a ‘reduced alcohol’ drink can have – so this means they can be a lot stronger than ‘alcohol free’ or ‘low alcohol’ drinks. Food Standards Agency best practice guidance says ‘reduced alcohol’ should mean at least 30% less alcohol than the equivalent standard drink.
  In practice, the strength of ‘reduced alcohol’ drinks is typically around halfway between ‘alcohol-free’ and standard strength – a ‘light’ white, rose or red wine might have around 5.5% ABV. If you swap a standard alcoholic drink for a reduced alcohol one, you will still be cutting your units – but not by as much as if you choose ‘low alcohol’ or ‘alcohol-free’.

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