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Article History

Received: 31 March 2026

Accepted: 25 August 2026

First Online: 28 August 2026

Declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate: The study was approved by The University of Sheffield’s Research Ethics Committee on 13 December 2024. Reference number 065246. The study was conducted in accordance with the ethical principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants before their inclusion in the study.

Consent for publication: Written informed consent was obtained from all participants for publication of this study.

Competing interests: PPH, RoD, RH, and ZC declare that they have no competing interests. LF, IK and JH have received funding for unrelated research on alcohol-free and low-alcohol drinks from Alcohol Change UK (ACUK), which received <0.6% of its funds in 2024-5 from Lucky Saint, an organisation that produces and sells non-alcoholic drinks, and owns a pub that sells standard alcoholic drinks. In March 2025, Lucky Saint became an associate member of The Portman Group, a self-regulatory organisation that is fully funded and controlled by the alcohol industry. ACUK has a strict policy of not accepting any funds from, nor being subject to any influence whatsoever from, the alcohol industry, including through its investment portfolio. ACUK has confirmed that it is in full compliance with this policy.