Move over, Dry January: More Canadians going easy on the alcohol year-round amid health warnings

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Mocktails and other zero-proof drinks are on the menu for 2025 and not just for Dry January, when many Canadians embrace a month of sobriety after more excessive alcohol consumption around the holidays.

There has been a huge uptick in sales of non-alcoholic products in recent years, including at stores, bars and restaurants. The change is taking place at a time when concerns about the health effect of alcohol use are garnering close attention.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Surgeon General called for warning labels for alcohol and said that, despite what he called clear evidence showing the effect of alcohol on cancer risk, there is a large gap in public understanding. There have been similar calls in Canada.

Helena Sonea, director of advocacy for the Canadian Cancer Society, said data show more than 40 per cent of Canadians are unaware that drinking alcohol increases the risk of developing several kinds of cancer. The society supports warning labels for alcohol products.

Data, including figures released by Statistics Canada this fall, point to how Canadians appear to have evolving habits around alcohol consumption.

For 2023, it found that 54 per cent of individuals over 18 reported not drinking alcohol in the week preceding the survey. The agency also reported in 2023 that while most Canadians drink moderately, the volume of alcohol sold in Canada declined 1.2 per cent in 2021-2022. It found that wine sales fell 4 per cent – the largest decrease since Statscan began tracking the figures in 1949.

There has also been a legislative push for warnings. Senator Patrick Brazeau, who has been sober for more than four years after challenges with his mental health and guilty pleas to criminal charges, to mandate labelling. He also wants the promotion of alcoholic beverages prohibited.

In a post on X this week, Mr. Brazeau said people should consume whatever they wish but that with cancer warning labels, consumers could make better informed health decisions.

A bill he introduced in 2022 on warning labels, S-254, passed second reading in the Senate. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision last week to prorogue Parliament means it has died.

Mr. Brazeau has said the industry makes arguments against warning labels but that nothing will change the fact that alcohol has been deemed a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

In November, 2017, The Northern Territories Alcohol Study, funded by Health Canada, met with opposition. In Yukon, labels on alcoholic beverages alert consumers of health risks were called false and alarmist by members of the alcohol industry. Less than a month after it began, the study was shut down.

Timothy Naimi, a physician and director of the University of Victoria’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, said he supports the use of warning label. He said alcohol is a legal substance but there is a downside to it, and it is about a consumer’s right to know.

In January, 2023, guidelines released by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction presented a continuum of health risks associated with different amounts of alcohol. The key message was that the more a person drinks, the greater the risks. A report issued about the findings said effective policy change included mandatory labelling of alcoholic beverages. Dr. Naimi was part of a scientific panel that offered insights for the guidelines.

He said an online tool, called Know Alcohol, has been created as a follow-up to the 2023 advice. Individuals can use it to calculate risk estimates, as well as benefits they could expect with reduced consumption, including cost and calorie savings, Dr. Naimi said.

In April, 2020, Sarah Kate decided to take on a 30-day challenge to not drink. The mother of two soon noticed a few changes after she stopped drinking. She said she could better weather stress associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and she experienced fewer emotional ups and downs. She also had more energy and was able to run faster.

Nearly five years later, Ms. Kate, now 47, is still embracing non-alcoholic options and wants to help others do the same.

Through her online wellness publication, Some Good Clean Fun, which she started in April, 2021, Ms. Kate shares resources, including mocktail recipes. She said there has been a huge surge in popularity for non-alcoholic beverages in Canada while consumers reconsider their habits and think about wellness. The market has evolved with an influx of products from Britain and the U.S., she added.

Dan Malleck, a professor in the department of health sciences at Brock University who researches alcohol and drug policy, said technology used in non-alcoholic beverages has improved. Some breweries are making non-alcoholic products because there is market for them, Prof. Malleck said.

This past December, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario reported that products with no alcohol saw growth of 73 per cent over the last year and 189-per-cent growth since 2022.

Social dynamics are also changing. When people opt out of drinking alcohol at a gathering, there is far less stigma associated with their decision, Ms. Kate said.

“It’s socially acceptable now to say ‘I’m not drinking tonight.’ And it’s a beautiful thing.”