Health warning labels on alcoholic beverages: opportunities for informed and healthier choices

Overview

Although alcohol negatively affects various health outcomes, awareness about the health risks of consuming alcohol remains relatively low. WHO recommends labelling alcoholic beverages to increase awareness and ensure consumers make informed decisions. Current labelling practices across countries are not standardized as they are with medicine, food products and soft drinks. The inconsistencies in displaying information and other factors such as the scale of interventions and assessment methods have resulted in divergent practices and outcomes, leaving consumers without critical information to make decisions. Experimental studies indicate that warning labels can impact self-reported intention to reduce consumption. Although health warning labels are talked about as one policy approach to curb the consumption of alcohol, they can be implemented and evaluated in various ways that can affect whether they can be considered effective. The effect of health warnings labels is optimized when reinforced by other policies that curb alcohol consumption.

This Snapshot is part of a series of briefs tackling critical issues related to the determinants driving the acceptability, availability and affordability of alcohol consumption and how it affects people and their communities. The briefs result from a quick scanning of the recent evidence on the topic, insights from leading experts, consultation with selected countries, and discussions during webinars convened to create a platform to match evidence, practice, and policies. It is intended for a broad audience, including professionals working in public health and local and national alcohol policy focal points, policy-makers, government officials, researchers, civil society groups, consumer associations, the mass media and people new to alcohol research or practice