‘Low carb’, ‘gluten-free’, with collagen or electrolytes: is it really possible for alcohol to be healthy?
Guardian AU
•Tue, 18 Aug 2026 15:00:49 GMT
📰 What Happened
Guardian writer Melissa Davey examines the boom in premixed alcoholic drinks marketed with 'better for you' claims such as 'low sugar', 'low carb' and 'gluten-free', often promoted by social-media influencers under hashtags like #healthydrinking. She notes alcohol is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen, meaning there is no safe 'healthy' level of consumption when it comes to cancer risk, and reports on focus-group research led by food-policy expert Prof Simone Pettigrew at the George Institute for Global Health, in which participants said labels such as 'low sugar' and 'low carb' made them assume a drink was relatively healthy.
🔍 The Backstory
Researchers say labels such as 'low sugar' create a 'health halo' that leads people to assume a product is healthy overall, shifting focus away from alcohol's harms. These premixed drinks are ultra-processed and marketed to younger, more health-conscious drinkers. Pettigrew's focus-group research found participants assumed such labels meant the products were relatively healthy.
🎯 Why It Matters
The marketing raises consumer-protection and public-health concerns, because health-adjacent claims may mislead drinkers about genuine risks including cancer. The reporting questions whether 'healthy' alcohol can ever really exist and whether regulators should scrutinise such labelling.
Guardian writer Melissa Davey examines the boom in premixed alcoholic drinks marketed with 'better for you' claims such as 'low sugar', 'low carb' and 'gluten-free', often promoted by social-media influencers under hashtags like #healthydrinking. She notes alcohol is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen, meaning there is no safe 'healthy' level of consumption when it comes to cancer risk, and reports on focus-group research led by food-policy expert Prof Simone Pettigrew at the George Institute for Global Health, in which participants said labels such as 'low sugar' and 'low carb' made them assume a drink was relatively healthy.
Researchers say labels such as 'low sugar' create a 'health halo' that leads people to assume a product is healthy overall, shifting focus away from alcohol's harms. These premixed drinks are ultra-processed and marketed to younger, more health-conscious drinkers. Pettigrew's focus-group research found participants assumed such labels meant the products were relatively healthy.
The marketing raises consumer-protection and public-health concerns, because health-adjacent claims may mislead drinkers about genuine risks including cancer. The reporting questions whether 'healthy' alcohol can ever really exist and whether regulators should scrutinise such labelling.