A discussion between health experts and teetotallers has raised the quandary over whether non-alcoholic drinks that mimic alcoholic variants can create a yearning for returning to drinking.
Speaking to the drinks business, Club Soda co-founder Laura Willoughby MBE said: "Not all former drinkers find alcohol-free drinks that mimic a trigger. It is very personal and some will avoid them and others embrace them. For example I have no issue with them and I have been alcohol-free for 13 years. We have lots of customers who have been through an AA style recovery but there are many other ways to quit drinking and no one person's journey is the same."
In a recent Medpage journal, Los Angeles-based teetotaller Logan Denzer said that the reason people chose to drink non-alcoholic alternatives was because when sober in a social setting "a lot of people feel out of place" and, with this in mind, the variety of 0% ABV options in bars now are "an excellent solution".
In the UK, the growing demand for inclusive options that cater to a diverse range of consumer preferences has seen an expansion of the no-and-low category. This is making pubs more accessible, with 86% of UK pubs now offering at least one no-or-low alcohol beer. This marks a significant leap from just 77.8% in 2019.
Traditional alcohol brands have also been responding to the surge in the non-alcoholic category's popularity, with companies like Asahi aiming to increase their non-alcoholic production share by 20% by 2030.
According to market research firm NielsenIQ, retail sales of non-alcoholic wine, beer, and spirits reached US$823 million last year. The data also showed that more than nine in 10 non-alcoholic drinks customers also buy alcohol, showing that the trend is to vary alcohol intake and remain more in control.
Adult Non-Alcoholic Beverage Association spokesperson Marcos Salazar responded to such reports by pointing out how people were now "wanting to not necessarily drink during the week, or they're wanting to switch out at a particular occasion. So they may have an alcoholic beverage and then an adult non-alcoholic beverage. That's called zebra striping and it kind of extends the night".
This, Salazar pointed out, is a little different from being a non-drinker, but served as a reminder that all people are in control of their own intake, whatever choices they make.
Retiree Ann Kopp Mitchell, who recently tasted various non-alcoholic beverages at the San Diego-based Monday Morning Bottle Shop admitted that she uses the zebra striping method at times.
Mitchell explained: "If I want a glass of wine with my dinner, I don't feel guilty. I can enjoy that glass of wine. And if I wanna have a spirit because we're celebrating someone's birthday, or Champagne, I will do that. But I'll only have one, and then let it go, and then maybe go to a non-alcoholic. It's a way of continuing with that social pattern of drinking that I enjoy."
Looking more deeply into the queries over non-alcoholic beers and spirits for instance being the right route for teetotallers, Stanford University researcher Molly Bowdring, PhD described how: "It's important to recognise that these are probably not one-size-fits-all products. You might see peers or friends or family members use them and have no problem with them, but it really comes back to your own individual experience."
Willoughby echoed this and told db that it is "rather dependent on the individual (in the same way that some people can drink alcohol moderately and some find it hard to control). Suggesting alcohol-free may trigger some people to drink so should not be available suggests they are more dangerous than alcohol, which of course is widely available. No one is forcing anyone to drink anything they don't want - it is an individual choice. If someone is triggered by something that tastes like the alcohol they used to drink they should avoid it. But that is a very small percentage of people."
However, Bowdring urged non-drinkers who have a history with alcohol issues to stay wary and insisted: "They do contain a lot of the alcohol-related cues because they are so similar to alcohol, it could be that they actually trigger craving for full strength alcohol and may lead people to revert to alcohol use".
Denzer also revealed that when she stopped drinking alcohol seven years ago, she and her friends avoided drinking non-alcoholic drinks for this reason and added: "We were pretty opposed to it because we were like, 'Well, this tastes like beer and we're a year sober, and so we're going to associate that taste with actual alcohol.' As time went on, we became more open to it."
With this in mind, Denzer advised that the sector needed to consider this caveat, "particularly for people who are either newer in recovery or who are on shaky ground" and, agreeing, Bowdring pointed out how "everyone's journey is going to be a little bit different. I encourage folks to just sort of be aware of how these drinks are impacting them".
Willoughby also observed how people were adapting their repertoire of non-alcoholic drinks and were exploring drinks beyond the usual categories of alcoholic ones. For instance, Willoughby noted: "As most people now drinking alcohol-free are moderating their drinking this is also not an issue. Also around a third of the drinks in our shop are not mimics, so people come in for shrubs, sparkling tea, botanicals and other drinks beyond what you might think."
Hinting at what people ought to be more cautious of, Willoughby said that "it's worth knowing that sugar, as it hits the same dopamine levels as alcohol, can sometimes trigger people to drink - so some prefer to keep away from the sugary sodas and keep to low sugar adult alcohol-free".
In the US, the American Heart Association has recommended limiting added sugars to no more than approximately six teaspoons a day for women and nine teaspoons a day for men. To put this into perspective, a standard 12-ounce can of soda on its own might contain the equivalent of around 10 teaspoons of sugar.
Describing the role that Club Soda plays in all of this, Willoughby added: "We are a system change social impact organisation, so by making alcohol-free drinks more acceptable, visible and available we hope to make it easier for people to make a healthy swap away from alcohol and create a society where it's ok to not drink. So we have our eye on the bigger societal change. If this happens then maybe less of us will get into a pickle with alcohol in the longer run - because it has ceased to be the star of the show."