Low Alcohol Alternatives: A Promising Strategy for Reducing Alcohol Related Harm



Centre for Addictions Research of BC
December 2007
Research and Policy Papers: 5/2007
First published: December 2007


The aim of this study was to provide an empirical test of whether a sample of young beer drinkers report differences in subjective levels of enjoyment and intoxication when given moderate amounts of unmarked low alcohol beer (3.8%) compared with regular strength beer (5.3%).

The 34 participants were volunteer male students from the University of Victoria who reported drinking 5 or more beers in one day at least once in the last month. In each drinking session, small groups of between 6 and 10 students consumed two glasses of beer while playing a pub game. Each subject was his own control in the experiment by attending two group drinking sessions, drinking a different beverage each time. The different strength beers were given in balanced order, with half the subjects in each group drinking one beer and the rest the other beer. Standard instruments employed in previous studies were used to measure subjective intoxication, enjoyment and mood. Blood alcohol levels were tested before, during and after drinking with a hand-held breathalyser.

Although significantly higher blood alcohol levels (BACs) were obtained with the higher strength beer (means of 0.026 versus 0.033mg/100ml at the end of the study, p<0.001), when a sub-group of 22 participants were debriefed, (i) most reported enjoying the two sessions equally or preferred the low alcohol beer session; (ii) most did not report feeling different between the two sessions; and (iii) only about half (12/22) correctly guessed which was the higher alcohol content beer. There was a small difference, however, in terms of preferring the taste of the 5.3% beer.

While the sample size was relatively small, the experimental design with each subject as their own control had adequate statistical power to detect practically significant changes in the outcome measures.

We recommend these findings be used in devising alcohol taxation policy and other strategies that might create incentives for the manufacture, marketing and consumption of low alcohol alternatives.

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