Consumer groups call for alcohol to be included in the push to reduce chronic disease

Twenty-four prominent consumer, public health, and food allergy groups are today calling on the Trump administration to include alcohol in efforts to reduce chronic disease. The Center for Science in the Public Interest and other organizations wrote to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent highlighting the impact of alcohol on the development of chronic disease in both children and adults. (Most alcoholic products are regulated by the Treasury Department, not Health and Human Services.) The letter emphasizes the need for stronger federal labeling policies to better disclose alcohol’s health risks and to provide key nutrition, ingredients, and allergen information.

"It is simply impossible to improve the health of American families without reducing the excessive and harmful use of alcohol. Alcohol kills more Americans each year than opioids and guns combined. Additionally, drinking too much results in over 4.2 million emergency room visits and almost 2 million hospitalizations each year,” said Mike Marshall, CEO of the U.S. Alcohol Policy Alliance. “Secretary Kennedy should align national alcohol policy with evidence-based public health measures."

While the alcohol content itself is the most harmful component, additional elements in alcoholic beverages may also contribute to chronic disease.

“On average, alcohol accounts for nine percent of daily calories for those who drink,” said CSPI registered dietitian and policy associate Christina LiPuma. “People generally don’t have a chance to see that their alcoholic beverages are loaded with calories and sometimes added sugars, saturated fat, or sodium. Alcoholic drinks can also contain dyes, allergens, or additives they may be trying to avoid. But avoiding these ingredients is difficult, because this type of labeling isn’t mandatory for most products and is only sometimes disclosed voluntarily.”

The organizations are asking Secretaries Kennedy and Bessent to move forward with alcohol labeling policies to implement a cancer warning recommended by the Surgeon General earlier this year and mandatory labeling of nutrition, food allergens, and ingredients on alcohol. Nutrition and allergen labeling are currently the subject of Treasury Department Proposed Rules, which were developed after CSPI and other groups sued the agency to move forward with the rules. The proposed rules are still open for public comment and should be finalized promptly by the Trump administration upon closure of the comment period in August.

“There are more than 26 million Americans of legal drinking age with potentially life-threatening food allergies to one of the top nine food allergens who are risking their lives with every glass of wine or sip of beer or cocktail they responsibly enjoy,” said Food Allergy Research & Education CEO Sung Poblete, PhD, RN. “Our community relies on and depends on food allergen labeling to safely purchase and consume food, and they deserve the same information on alcoholic beverages. This regulation has languished for over 20 years.”

Unfortunately, say the groups, the administration recently withdrew a pre-rule on ingredients labeling, which would have provided information about additives and ingredients used in alcohol, some of which also implicate less-common food allergens.

The letter highlights the need for better transparency — a key priority for this administration and something long absent on alcohol labels.

“The alcohol industry has fought to keep consumers in the dark about its products and their health harms, including an estimated 20,000 cancer deaths attributable to alcohol each year,” said Consumer Federation of America director of food policy Thomas Gremillion. “With the industry spending billions of dollars on advertising each year, consumers have a right to accurate information about alcohol.”

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