Researchers have found effective ways to get people to drink less. Highlight the increased cancer risk associated with drinking and combine that with counting all your drinking.

This particular combination of ‘why cut down’ and ‘how to cut down’ messages could help promote healthier populations, says the team responsible for the 2021 study.

Of course, drinking too much doesn’t just lead to cancer. Taking too much with alcohol has been associated with a variety of problems, including premature death, heart disease, digestive problems, and an increased risk of dementia.

“We found that combining information about alcohol and cancer with a specific practical behavior (counting the number of times you drink) can help drinkers consume less alcohol,” said the economist and Simone Pettigrew, a psychologist and the George Institute for Global Health, said:

In this study, we responded to three surveys. 7,995 responded to the first survey, 4,588 responded to his second survey three weeks after him, and 2,687 responded to the final survey three weeks after him. Participants were divided into different groups and shown different advertisements and messages about drinking.

One combination stood out compared to the control group. Television ads linking alcohol and cancer and suggestions to keep drinking count are among the most effective ways to encourage people to reduce their alcohol intake.

It was also the only combination where people actually significantly reduced their alcohol consumption over a 6-week period.

Other approaches, such as asking participants to set a number of drinks and then stick with them, encouraged some volunteers to try and cut back, but based on those who took part in this study, the clear winner had.

“Many people don’t know that alcohol is a carcinogen,” Pettigrew said. “It’s important information that drinkers have access to. But telling people that alcohol causes cancer is only part of the solution. It also gives them ways to take action to reduce their risk.” need to do it.”

According to the World Health Organization, alcohol consumption can be responsible for 7% of premature deaths worldwide, and making drinkers more aware of the health risks is one way to tackle that problem.

Health agencies have also considered ways to make alcohol less accessible and more expensive, but ultimately individual choices will determine whether behaviors about alcohol change over time.

In this particular study, participants were chosen to be “broadly demographically representative of the Australian drinking population,” so it’s not an approach that would necessarily work elsewhere, but if you want to drink, count your drinks. It seems that one option is to cut down.

“With limited resources available for alcohol harm reduction campaigns, it is important to see which messages are most likely to resonate and be effective,” said Pettigrew. .

This research addictive behavior.

A previous version of this article was first published in June 2021.