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Get Healthy!
New Warning Labels Might Help People Cut Back On Drinking
- May 5, 2026
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
Alcoholic beverages in the United States carry a warning label, but you’d be forgiven if they leave little impression.
In place since 1988, the label states the risks of drinking during pregnancy or while driving, along with a general notice that alcohol “may cause health problems.”
These small labels often go unnoticed and unremembered by consumers, blended in to the overall package design of a can of beer, bottle of wine or fifth of liquor, researchers said.
New warning labels pointing out specific disease risks – including cancer and liver disease – might better motivate people to cut back on drinking, a new study reports.
“We know from tobacco control that well-designed warnings can inform consumers and encourage healthier choices,” lead researcher Anna Grummon, an assistant professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine, said in a news release.
Drinking contributes to nearly 180,000 deaths every year in the U.S., making up about 13% of deaths among adults 20 to 64, researchers said in background notes. Half the U.S. adult population drinks at least once a month, and alcohol-related death rates have increased for both women and men during the past two decades.
For the study, researchers designed eight new warning labels, and had more than 1,000 U.S. adults read them in random order alongside a control message and the current U.S. warning label. All of the adults were of legal drinking age and said they had at least one drink a week.
“Each participant rated multiple warnings covering a range of health harms — such as cancer, liver disease, hypertension and dementia, among others — so we could make direct, apples-to-apples comparisons between them,” Grummon said.
All the new alcohol warnings outperformed the current U.S. warning, researchers found. Those highlighting cancer risk were particularly effective.
Study participants also found that warning icons featuring triangles or octagons – think yield and stop signs – were more attention-grabbing and effective than other icons like magnifying glasses.
The researchers are now running a follow-up trial to see whether these warnings effectively lead people to drink less.
“Given that alcohol-related deaths are increasing, we hope policymakers will consider whether updating alcohol warnings should be part of a broader strategy to address alcohol-related harms,” Grummon said.
The new results were published today in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on alcohol’s effects on health.
SOURCE: Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, news release, May 5, 2026
