Substitution or addition? The use of alcohol-free beverages among university students.

*Disclaimer: Please note that parts of this English sci-fly were automatically translated.*

Do you drink alcohol-free?

By this, we refer to drinks that taste and look similar to their alcoholic variants but contain no alcohol or only very low levels of alcohol, such as 0.0% beer¹. In the Dutch National Prevention Agreement, replacing alcoholic beverages with alcohol-free beverages is employed as one of the strategies to reduce excessive alcohol consumption among students². In a recent study involving students at Radboud University, we investigated whether this is actually happening.   CORE Alcohol use among students has been the norm for years, excessive alcohol use is common and has negative consequences in both the short and long term (e.g., decreased academic performance, memory loss, risk of addiction and labour loss)^2-7. Thus, for example, substituting alcoholic beers for alcohol-free beers could be very valuable in reducing alcohol-related harm among students. However, results from the current study show that only 1 in 6 students (partially) substitute alcoholic beverages for alcohol-free beverages. More than half do not change their alcohol consumption at all but drink alcohol-free in addition. Furthermore, a very small proportion of students actually drink more or start drinking alcohol since drinking alcohol-free beverages. It is, therefore, possible that the promotion of alcohol-free in a small subgroup could even be counterproductive, whereby becoming familiar with a brand or taste may be a steppingstone for consuming (more) alcohol⁷. The study shows that the strategy proposed in the Dutch National Prevention Agreement may thus be effective for a subset of students and may contribute to reducing excessive alcohol consumption. However, this does not seem likely for all students.   RESEARCH METHOD WHAT? This study investigated whether university students use alcohol-free beverages to substitute or add to their alcohol consumption. It also examined how often and how much alcohol-free and alcoholic beverages students drink and the relationship between drinking alcohol-free and alcohol. WHO? University students (n = 4,331). Participants are part of Radboud University’s longitudinal Healthy Student Life study (Wave 2)⁸. HOW? Data collection took place between May and July 2022. Through a questionnaire, students were asked to report if and how their alcohol consumption changed since drinking alcohol-free. Students were also asked to report how often and how much they drank alcohol-free and alcohol.   RESULTS

• 17.4% of students drank alcohol-free to (partially) replace alcohol, 54.9% drank the same amount of alcohol in addition to alcohol-free, 2.1% drank more or started drinking alcohol in addition to alcohol-free, and 25.7% did not know how their alcohol consumption changed since drinking alcohol-free.
• 45.3% of students drank alcohol-free in the past six months and 87.3% drank alcohol.
• On a typical day, students drank an average of 1.21 glasses of alcohol free and 3.73 glasses of alcohol.
• Drinking alcohol-free was positively associated with drinking alcohol (albeit weakly).

  DETAILS Groefsema, M. M., van Hooijdonk, K. J. M., Voogt, C. V., Hendriks, H., & Vink, J. M. (2024). Consumption of alcohol-free and alcoholic beverages among Dutch university students: Substitution or addition?. Drug and alcohol review, 43(6), 1545–1558. https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.13905 This sci-fly was written by Kirsten van Hooijdonk (Radboud University) for RAD-blog, the blog on smoking, alcohol, drugs and diet. References

1. Okaru, A. O., & Lachenmeier, D. W. (2022). Defining No and Low (NoLo) Alcohol Products. Nutrients, 14(18), 3873. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14183873
2. Ministerie van Volksgezondheid, Welzijn en Sport. (2018). Nationaal Preventieakkoord. Naar een gezonder Nederland. https://open.overheid.nl/documenten/ronl-1f7b7558-4628-477d-8542-9508d913ab2c/pdf
3. Nuijen, J., Verweij, A., Dopmeijer, J., Van Wamel, A., Van Wamel, A., Buijs, M., Van Der Horst, M., & Van Den Brink, C. (2023). Monitor Mentale gezondheid en Middelengebruik Studenten hoger onderwijs 2023. http://hdl.handle.net/10029/627078
4. Dopmeijer, J. M., Nuijen, J., Busch, M. C. M., Tak, N. I., van Hasselt, N., & Verweij, A. (2021). Monitor Mentale gezondheid en Middelengebruik Studenten hoger onderwijs. Deelrapport II. Middelengebruik van studenten in het hoger onderwijs. https://doi.org/10.21945/RIVM-2021-0195
5. White, A., & Hingson, R. (2014). The Burden of Alcohol Use: Excessive Alcohol Consumption and Related Consequences Among College Students. Alcohol Research: Current Reviews. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3908712/
6. De Goede, J., Van Der Mark-Reeuwijk, K. G., Braun, K. P., Cessie, S. L., Durston, S., Engels, R. C. M. E., Goudriaan, A. E., Moons, K. G. M., Vollebergh, W. A. M., De Vries, T. J., Wiers, R. W., & Oosterlaan, J. (2021). Alcohol and Brain Development in Adolescents and Young Adults: A Systematic Review of the Literature and Advisory Report of the Health Council of the Netherlands. Advances in Nutrition, 12(4), 1379–1410. https://doi.org/10.1093/advances/nmaa170
7. Hew, A., & Arunogiri, S. (2023). Zero alcohol, but not zero risk? Australian & New Zealand Journal Of Psychiatry, 58(1), 10–11. https://doi.org/10.1177/00048674231200399
8. Healthy Student life | Radboud University. (2024, 3 september). https://www.ru.nl/en/departments/behavioural-science-institute/healthy-student-life