Cambridge English news | Cambridge, Latest News & Live Updates in English | English News (Latest English News) at Lokmattimes.com

People are more likely to opt for non-alcoholic drinks if more of them are available as compared to alcoholic drinks, suggests a new study.A team of researchers at the NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre and the Universities of Bristol and Cambridge, UK, found that when presented with eight drink options, participants were 48 per cent more likely to choose a non-alcoholic drink when the proportion of non-alcoholic drink options increased from four (50 per cent) to six (75 per cent).When the proportion of non-alcoholic drink options decreased from four to two (25 per cent), participants were 46 per cent less likely to choose a non-alcoholic drink. The study was published in the open-access journal BMC Public Health.Dr Anna Blackwell, the corresponding author, said, "Alcohol consumption is among the top five risk factors for disease globally. Previous research has shown that increasing the availability of healthier food options can increase their selection and consumption relative to less healthy food. To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate that increasing the availability of non-alcoholic drinks, relative to alcoholic drinks in an online scenario, can increase their selection."Participants in the study completed an online task in which they were presented with a selection of alcoholic beer, non-alcoholic beer, and soft drinks. The drink selections included four alcoholic and four non-alcoholic drinks, six alcoholic and two non-alcoholic drinks or two alcoholic and six non-alcoholic drinks. As many as 808 UK residents with an average age of 38 years, who regularly consumed alcohol, participated in the study.When presented with mostly non-alcoholic drinks, 49 per cent of participants selected a non-alcoholic drink, compared to 26 per cent of participants who selected a non-alcoholic drink when presented with most alcoholic drinks.These results were consistent regardless of the time participants had to make their decision, indicating that the findings were not dependent on the amount of time and attention participants were able to devote to their drink choice.The findings suggest that interventions to encourage healthier food and drink choices may be most effective when changing the relative availability of healthier and less-healthy options.Blackwell said, "Many licensed venues already offer several non-alcoholic options but these are often stored out of direct sight, for example in low-level fridges behind the bar. Our results indicate that making these non-alcoholic products more visible to customers may influence them to make healthier choices.""The market for alcohol-free beer, wine and spirit alternatives is small but growing and improving the selection and promotion of non-alcoholic drinks in this way could provide an opportunity for licensed venues to reduce alcohol consumption without losing revenue," he added.The authors caution that as the study measured hypothetical drink selection online, results may differ in real-world settings.Further studies are needed to determine how the relative availability of non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks impacts the purchasing and consumption of alcohol in real life.( With inputs from ANI )

CambridgeFOLLOW

Cambridge, Latest News

A team of scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology, has discovered a He(helium)-enhanced cool bright stars among the metal-rich sample of Omega Centauri. ...

New York, July 6 In a fight against novel coronavirus, researchers have developed a human cell 'membrane on ... ...

New Delhi, July 4 July 4 Meera Mehta is a 21-year-old young COVID-19 warrior from India. She volunteers ... ...

Astronomers have reported the first detection of X-rays from the earliest phase of the evolution of a star like our Sun. This discovery, made using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, may help answer some questions about the Sun and the solar system as ...

The UK's Prince William has revealed that becoming a father brought back painful emotions he felt following his mother, ... ...

Asian American health-care workers in the United States have reported a rise in bigoted incidents in recent weeks that has left the entire community, who represent 6 per cent of the total population, in a painful position on the front lines of the re ...

As the scientists across the world are struggling to develop a vaccine for combating coronavirus, US drugmaker Moderna announced on Monday (local time) that the phase I trial of its Covid-19 vaccine has shown positive early results. ...

People are more likely to opt for non-alcoholic drinks if more of them are available as compared to alcoholic drinks, suggests a new study. ...