Do Non-Alcoholic Drinks Actually Help You Stay Sober?

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Tis soft drink season.

It’s Dry January, after all: the month-long break from drinking has become an annual tradition among many people in the UK and US in recent years. In fact, sobriety in general is starting to attract followers, especially among younger generations.

Zero-proof spirits, similar to beer, and dealcoholized wines now line the shelves of many supermarkets and occupy pride of place on bar menus, while recipes for non-alcoholic cocktails have taken off on the Internet. Non-spirit drinks have become a popular way to avoid the potential social consequences of reducing consumption.

“We still live in cultures where drinking is normalized and not drinking requires an explanation,” says Emily Nicholls, a sociologist at the University of York who studies soft drink consumption. Blank alternatives allow people to participate in alcohol-centered gatherings or even “pretend to be drinkers.” (Many of them taste pretty good, too.)

But most no- or low-alcohol products, often called NoLos, mimic the taste and appearance of alcoholic beverages and even contain tiny amounts of real alcohol. That’s why some experts have begun to question whether these substitutes actually reduce alcohol consumption in the long term, especially among people with disorders like alcohol use disorder (AUD). The topic is relatively understudied and research findings so far are mixed.

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One concern is that soft drinks could lead to relapse in people trying to quit smoking by triggering alcohol cravings. Some evidence suggests that they may cause not only the subjective desire to drink, but also a physiological arousal response similar to that which occurs when the person actually drinks alcohol, with the strength of the cravings depending on the level of alcohol dependence.

Even the packaging of some non-alcoholic beers has been shown to cause cravings because it is so close to that of alcohol sold by the same beverage companies. This is particularly concerning because soft drinks can often be legally sold or advertised in places where alcohol itself is prohibited.

“Suddenly these places can become a lot less inclusive for people who are trying to recover from alcohol use disorders and who really can’t cope with this exposure to all these brands of alcohol,” says John Holmes, professor of alcohol policy at the University of Sheffield. In addition to increasing the risk of relapse, Holmes says, the presence of such drinks may force some people to avoid otherwise alcohol-free spaces, worsening the isolation that already makes recovery difficult.

On the other hand, alcohol-free alternatives may help some people recover. Most patients are unable to fully achieve abstinence, Holmes says. As a result, traditional approaches that make total abstinence the sole goal of treatment may discourage people from seeking help. Although abstinence may be ideal, Holmes says, evidence suggests that many people can recover by reducing their drinking. A moderation-based approach to recovery, which allows non-alcoholic beers and focuses on developing a healthy, long-term relationship with alcohol, may be more realistic for some people.

Overall, the ambiguity around nonalcoholic beverages makes it difficult to create clear protocols for their use, including clinical guidelines to help providers treat patients with alcohol use disorders, as well as regulations for the sale and marketing of beverages. For example, when soft drinks are sold by businesses without liquor licenses, such as supermarkets, does their easy access put people with alcohol use disorder at risk of relapse, or does it help them by allowing them to use these drinks in their recovery without setting foot in a liquor store?

What’s difficult about answering questions like this is that there is unlikely to be just one right answer. “Every person who is addicted to alcohol is very different,” says Holmes. “The question is sort of: Who will this work for? … How do the effects differ for these different types of people?” Soft drinks themselves also vary widely: some contain no trace of alcohol, while others have an ABV as high as around 1.2%, although the exact threshold varies by country. “Should the guidelines distinguish between these two different types of products? Holmes asks. “These are the kinds of questions we don’t yet have clear answers to.”

The guidelines should also recognize that, for some people, non-alcoholic cocktails, wine and beer are not a feasible option. Not only are people with alcohol use disorder at risk of withdrawal and relapse, but they may also have court orders or employment requirements imposed that prohibit them from consuming even a drop of alcohol without consequences. The drinks aren’t cheap either.

For now, soft drinks sit in a happy medium: a lifeline for some, a landmine for others, and a category that science hasn’t yet caught up with.

Main image: Blan_k / Shutterstock

• Zoe Cunniffe

  Published on January 26, 2026

  Zoe Cunniffe is a health writer with interests in chronic disease and medical anthropology. His work has previously been published in the Ethics Press collection Institutionalized madness: the interaction of psychiatry and societal institutions. She also writes a Substack newsletter, Reality Tunnels.