Energy labelling of alcoholic drinks as a public health policy to reduce obesity: An integrative review

Abstract

Objective: Both excessive alcohol consumption and obesity produce a considerable public health burden. Alcohol is calorie dense, but unlike food products, alcoholic drinks tend to be exempt from nutritional labelling laws that require energy content information to be displayed on packaging or at point of purchase. Design: Here we provide an integrative review on the potential of alcoholic drink energy labelling as a public health policy to reduce obesity. Results: We first outline the contribution that alcohol makes to population level daily energy intake and the role that alcohol consumption may have in promoting obesity. We next discuss the extent to which there is a consumer need for alcoholic drink energy labelling and the potential impact that energy labelling of alcoholic drinks would have on both consumer and industry behaviour. The direct and indirect pathways and mechanisms by which energy labelling of alcoholic drinks could theoretically influence public health are discussed, as well as possible unintended consequences of alcoholic drink energy labelling. Conclusion: We conclude by discussing key questions that will need to be answered by future research in order to determine how effective energy labelling of alcoholic drink policies will be in reducing obesity and improving public health.