Results from new US study suggest beverage-specific policies could help mitigate alcohol-related health risks among vulnerable populations
A recent U.S. study is the first to identify alcoholic beverage preferences among demographic subpopulations who face heightened alcohol-related health risks, including those with lower socioeconomic status (SES) and heavy drinkers.
Published in Drug and Alcohol Review, the study analyzed a sample of over 37,000 adults who consume alcohol and discovered significant differences in beverage preferences across demographic groups.
- Adults with lower education levels and low socioeconomic status (SES) were more likely to consume beer, liquor, and coolers, whereas those with higher education and income levels prefer wine.
- Hispanic/Latinx adults predominantly preferred beer, Black adults were more inclined toward liquor, and Asian adults favored wine.
- High-level drinkers (4-7 standard drinks per day for men, 3-4 standard drinks per day for women, as defined by the World Health Organization) and very-high-level drinkers (more than 7 drinks per day for men, more than 4 drinks per day for women) predominantly chose beer and liquor over wine.
- High-level and very-high-level drinkers, who made up less than 10% of all drinkers, , consumed more than half of the total volume of beer, liquor, and coolers consumed by all adults.
“Our findings showed that alcoholic beverage preferences are often deeply rooted in socioeconomic and racial and ethnic community conditions, suggesting that targeted alcohol price and tax policies aimed at specific beverages could play a significant role in addressing health disparities among those at greater risk for alcohol-related harms,” explained ARG Scientist and lead author Won Kim Cook, PhD.
“Policymakers could potentially reduce the alcohol-related harms these groups experience by increasing taxes on beer and liquor or introducing minimum unit pricing, which sets a price below which alcoholic beverages cannot be sold, on beverages heavy drinkers prefer,” Cook added.
The research team noted that their findings suggest a mechanism of the alcohol harm paradox, where disadvantaged populations experience higher rates of alcohol-related harms despite consuming the same amount or less alcohol than their counterparts.
Won Kim Cook, PhD
“While all alcoholic beverages carry some level of risk, past research indicates that beer and liquor are particularly associated with higher health risks,” Cook said. “The preference for higher-risk beverages among disadvantaged groups may contribute to the disproportionate burden of alcohol-related conditions and mortality they experience.”
Read the full study: Cook, W. K., Kerr, W. C., Zhu, Y., Bright, S., Buckley, C., Kilian, C., Lasserre, A. M., Llamosas-Falcón, L., Mulia, N., Rehm, J., & Probst, C. (2024). Alcoholic beverage types consumed by population subgroups in the United States: Implications for alcohol policy to address health disparities: https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.13819
Support for this paper was provided by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) under award numbers P50AA005595, R01AA024443, R01AA028009 and R01AA028009. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
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