A test of the proposal to label containers of alcoholic drink with alcohol content in Standard Drinks

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Abstract
Health education about alcohol increasingly relies on setting maximum limits for low-risk consumption expressed in terms of ‘Standard Drinks’ (1 SD = 10g ethyl akohol). In a sample of 257 West Australian drinkers contacted in a shopping mall, 173 (67.3%) had heard of SDs before but only 46(17.9%) could correctly define one. Subsequently, all subjects were taught how to use the SD system and had to pass a comprehension test before proceeding with an alcohol estimation experiment. A sub-sample of 52 beer drinkers underestimated the combined alcohol content of three cans of beer by a mean of 1.2 SDs when the alcohol content was depicted by the current method of percentage alcohol by volume. The addition of a SD label on each can significantly reduced the mean error to 0.17 SD (t = 6.78, p <0.0001). Similarly, 50 wine drinkers underestimated the alcohol content of a half bottle of wine by 0.84 SDs with a percentage label and by only 0.26 SDs when an SD label was added (t = 4.3, p < 0.0001). After attempting an alcohol estimation task, 63% of the full sample of 257 drinkers reported preferring the SD label, 23% the percentage label and 13% were undecided. SD labels were also preferred by 77% of subjects over alternative labels variously expressing alcohol content in grams of alcohol, decigrams and ‘units’ of alcohol. The results are interpreted as supporting the proposal that Standard Drink labelling should be introduced on all alcohol containers to provide greater assistance to drinkers who wish to drink responsibly.

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