January 18, 2023 – At the start of every year, some people attempt “Dry January” to remain sober for a month.
Many pregnant women select to not abstain.
Other people simply need to limit their alcohol consumption.
For them and others, drinking mocktails and other non-alcoholic beverages could be helpful. But it’s dangerous for individuals who have moderate to severe alcohol use disorder and can’t stop or control their drinking, say experts in The Washington Post.
“Basically, it's really a no,” said George Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The stimuli a mocktail triggers can “trigger a relapse and a renewed onset of excessive drinking.”
The mocktails sometimes use “non-alcoholic” varieties of rum, tequila, whiskey and gin, “carefully crafted to be close to the original but without the alcohol,” the paper says. Non-alcoholic beer and wine are also available.
Public health experts welcome any reduction in alcohol consumption, which has risen sharply through the pandemic. The World Health Organization says there isn’t any “safe amount” of alcohol.
The problem for people recovering from AUD is that mocktails and similar drinks can trigger cravings for alcohol, experts told the newspaper.
Koob compared it to craving coffee after seeing a green Starbucks sign. People recovering from AUD may crave an actual drink after a mocktail.
“People with alcohol addiction who start drinking non-alcoholic beer quickly relapse,” said Tim Brennan, director of clinical services on the Addiction Institute of Mount Sinai Health System. “It's too provocative. It's just too close to the problematic substance.”