Investigating the Effects of Calorie Information and Serving Size of Alcohol Products on Alcohol Consumption.

Not Applicable

Not yet recruiting

• Conditions: Obesity and Overweight; Alcohol

• Registration Number: NCT07103967
• Lead Sponsor: University of Liverpool

Brief Summary

The present study aims to investigate whether alcohol consumption is reduced when participants are shown calorie information of alcohol products, compared with when calorie information is absent. We also wish to see whether alcohol consumption levels are reduced when changing the serving sizes available to participants.

Detailed Description

We will examine the effect of alcohol calorie information on calorie and alcohol unit consumption in a semi-naturalistic real-world experiment by randomising pub quiz evenings to alcohol calorie information vs. absence of calorie information (control). Because current evidence for alcohol calorie information from online hypothetical choice experiments suggests any impact on alcohol consumption may be null or very small, we will compare and benchmark the size of any potential effect of alcohol calorie information to another public health alcohol intervention known to reduce alcohol consumption (alcohol serving size). We will achieve this by also randomizing evenings to normal sized servings of alcohol (control) vs. reduced serving sizes. In addition to examining effects of interventions on what people drink and eat during the pub quiz, we will examine alcohol and energy intake after the pub quiz to probe for potential compensatory behaviour in response to interventions. Because it is currently unclear how useful consumers find alcohol information when implemented in real-world conditions, we will also examine the extent to which participants perceive the interventions to be effective.

Study Timeline

• Status Verified: 2025-07
• Study First Submitted: 2025-07-29
• Study First Submitted QC: 2025-07-29
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-07-29
• Study Start: 2025-07-30
• Study First Posted: 2025-08-05
• Last Update Posted: 2025-08-05
• Primary Completion: 2025-11-19
• Study Completion: 2025-11-19

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 450

Inclusion Criteria

• Consume alcohol on a regular basis (at least one UK unit per week)
• Be aged 18 or over

Exclusion Criteria

• Have a current or previously diagnosed alcohol use disorder

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Alcohol units	Duration of the evening (approximately 3 hours and 15 minutes)	Amount of alcohol units consumed in the evening.
Total calorie consumption	Duration of the evening (approximately 3 hours and 15 minutes)	The amount of calories consumed during the evening.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Perceived message effectiveness	The day after the intervention	Participants will be asked to rate whether the menu they were presented with, affected feelings of concern towards alcohol.
Follow-up energy intake	Immediately after the intervention	Participants will be asked to record the food and drink consumed immediately after leaving the pub quiz, for the rest of the evening.
Bar snack consumption (calories)	Duration of the evening (approximately 3 hours and 15 minutes)	The amount of snacks consumed during the evening will be measured.