Even before the US warning against alcohol, younger Americans were turning to non-alcoholic cocktails

Written by Arianna McLemore

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. Surgeon General’s warning about increased cancer risk from drinking alcohol may resonate with most younger Americans who have already turned in recent years to soft drinks and juices instead of alcoholic beverages.

It’s not clear whether Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s proposal to update warning labels about the dangers of alcohol will be adopted by Congress, but over the past decade, the youngest adults have been drinking less.

Brooklyn (NYSE:) resident Amy Hudson, 35, said she cut back on drinking alcohol from a few times a week to less than three times a month after she started suffering from chronic migraines in 2021.

“I’ve found that mocktails are a good way to get antioxidants while incorporating anti-inflammatory foods into my diet,” Hudson said. She said ingredients like pineapple, cherry juice and ginger helped manage her migraines.

In 2023, 49.6% of Americans ages 18 to 25 had used alcohol in the past month, according to figures from the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration’s National Survey, down from 59.6% from 2013.

Sean Goldsmith, CEO of non-alcoholic beverage e-commerce platform The Zero Proof, said the Surgeon General’s announcement comes at a time when more and more people are realizing that drinking alcohol is not good for you.

It’s in one of its busiest seasons of the year — “Dry January,” the month when some people choose to abstain from alcohol after the holiday season.

About 90% of The Zero Proof shoppers are drinkers looking for healthier drinks, Goldsmith said. More than 60% of his clients are women and most of them are millennials between the ages of 28 and 43.

Public health bodies such as the World Health Organization have increasingly turned their attention towards alcohol after progress was made in imposing stronger controls on tobacco.

American medical (TASE:) The association noted in a statement on Friday that it has warned for years about the increased risk of cancer as a result of any alcohol consumption. “Despite decades of compelling evidence of this link, much of the general public remains unaware of the dangers of alcohol,” she said.

Sarah Martin, a 42-year-old sales representative in Los Angeles, doesn’t partake in Dry January, but said mocktails are great options at work parties. “I work in an industry that drinks more heavily than I can keep up with,” she said.

She’s happy that young people in her industry are “backing away from the coercive alcohol culture”, but she doesn’t think cancer risk profiling alone will reduce drinking.

“It took extensive public awareness campaigns to firmly link cigarettes and lung cancer in people’s minds,” Martin said. “But labels would be the first step.”