Ingredient and nutrition information labelling of alcoholic beverages: do consumers want it? The World Today — Letters
Med J Aust 2007; 187 (11/12): 669.

To the Editor: In Australia, the packaging of alcoholic beverages, unlike that of non-alcoholic beverages, is not required to display a list of ingredients or nutritional information, such as the amount of sugar, calories, and any preservatives contained in the drink.1 It is possible that consumers, especially some population groups such as weight-conscious young women, might be less inclined to drink as much alcohol if they knew the calorie content of what they were consuming. There has been no published research on whether Australian consumers want this information.

In April 2007, we invited (by letter and email) a random sample of 13 000 students aged 17–25 years at an Australian university to complete a web survey on alcohol consumption, health effects, and attitudes toward nutrition/ingredient labelling. Of the students invited, 7237 responded (56% response rate), and 6497 of these (90%) had consumed alcohol in the preceding 12 months.

Results suggest that more than three-quarters of this population group want to see both ingredients and nutritional information displayed on alcoholic beverage packaging.
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