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

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.