Sitting down with a cocktail at the end of the day is no longer the norm for many people. Dana G. Smith reports for The New York Times that nonalcoholic drinks are taking off in the “alcohol” market. In the year between 2022 and 2023, sales of nonalcoholic beverages rose 32 percent. Given the health risks of alcohol, try a nonalcoholic drink.
Americans are drinking far less alcohol than ever before. Sales in the alcohol market are up just one percent. Whole Foods sold more nonalcoholic beer in 2024 than alcoholic beer.
Alcohol is not good for our health. So, why not switch to nonalcoholic beverages? Without the alcohol, there’s no worry about harm to your liver or toxins that increase your risk of cancer.
Many nonalcoholic drinks today tend to taste a lot like their alcoholic counterparts but have less than a half of one percent alcohol content. Companies can remove the alcohol through filtration and distillation or an altered fermentation process that prevents the sugars from becoming alcohol.
Other nonalcoholic drinks might have hibiscus tea as their primary ingredient and taste less like alcohol. I like to make a mocktail at the end of the day with some ginger syrup, fresh juice, seltzer water and mint. Not only is the mocktail healthier than alcohol, it has far fewer calories!
People who should stay away from any alcohol are better off avoiding the nonalcoholic drinks and sticking to mocktails, where you know what’s going into them. If you buy prepared nonalcoholic drinks, check the ingredients. Some of these drinks have CBD, THC or ashwagandha.
Bottom line: If you have not yet tried a nonalcoholic beverage, go for it. Drink it instead of one alcoholic drink or all alcoholic drinks each week. Any reduction in your consumption of alcoholic beverages is a benefit to your health.
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