Acceptability and Feasibility Study of Non-alcoholic Beverages

May 27, 2026 updated by: Molly Anne Bowdring, Stanford University

Non-alcoholic Beverages as a Therapeutic Adjunct in Alcohol Use Disorder Treatment: a Pilot Study of Acceptability and Feasibility

This project will elucidate the acceptability and feasibility of incorporating provision of non-alcoholic beers into alcohol use disorder treatment, for patients interested in using non-alcoholic beers as part of their recovery from alcohol use disorder.

Study Overview

Status

Enrolling by invitation

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

60

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • Stanford, California, United States, 94304
        • Stanford Prevention Research Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Participants will be eligible if they report on the screening survey:

  • living in California and provide a California mailing address (to ship study materials to)
  • consuming ≤42 alcoholic beverages per week (as we seek to provide an equal count of the substitute beverage and budgetary restrictions prevent an amount greater than that)
  • having alcohol use disorder documented with ≥2 symptoms on the Alcohol Symptom Checklist
  • being enrolled in Ria Health treatment
  • having English language fluency

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Individuals will be excluded at the online screener survey stage if they do not meet all of the inclusion criteria.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Non-alcoholic beer
Participants will receive non-alcoholic beers (volume matching alcohol volume intake prior to alcohol use disorder treatment enrollment) for 6 weeks.
Other: Non-alcoholic beer
Participants will receive non-alcoholic beers and will be encouraged to consume the beverages to the extent they find useful/desirable during the 6-week study period.
Other: Sparkling water
Participants will receive sparkling water (volume matching alcohol volume intake prior to alcohol use disorder treatment enrollment) for 6 weeks.
Other: Sparkling water
Participants will receive sparkling water and will be encouraged to consume the beverages to the extent they find useful/desirable during the 6-week study period.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Participant Beverage Satisfaction (Acceptability)
Time Frame: Assessed at the end of week 6
"How satisfied were you with the beverages you received in this study?" with 5-pt scale response options ranging from "Very Unsatisfied" to "Very Satisfied." Higher scores [split by condition] will indicate greater acceptability.
Assessed at the end of week 6
Participant Intention to Consume Assigned Beverage in the Future (Acceptability)
Time Frame: Assessed at the end of week 6
"Do you intend to consume the beverage type you received in the future?" with 5-pt scale response options ranging from "Definitely not" to "Definitely." Higher scores [split by condition] will indicate greater acceptability.
Assessed at the end of week 6
Participant Likelihood of Recommending Beverage (Acceptability)
Time Frame: Assessed at the end of week 6
"Would you recommend the use of the beverage type you received for people who have alcohol use disorder?" with 5-pt scale response options ranging from "Definitely not" to "Definitely." Higher scores [split by condition] will indicate greater acceptability.
Assessed at the end of week 6
Screened Out of Contacted (Feasibility)
Time Frame: Beginning of recruitment to end of recruitment (approximately 3-6 months)
Percentage of participants who completed the screening measure out of those who were contacted. Higher percentage will indicate greater feasibility.
Beginning of recruitment to end of recruitment (approximately 3-6 months)
Eligible Out of Screened (Feasibility)
Time Frame: Beginning of recruitment to end of recruitment (approximately 3-6 months)
Percentage of participants who screen eligible out of those who were screened. Higher percentage will indicate greater feasibility.
Beginning of recruitment to end of recruitment (approximately 3-6 months)
Enrolled Out of Eligible (Feasibility)
Time Frame: Beginning of recruitment to end of recruitment (approximately 3-6 months)
Percentage of participants who enrolled out of those who screened eligible. Higher percentage will indicate greater feasibility.
Beginning of recruitment to end of recruitment (approximately 3-6 months)
Retention (Feasibility)
Time Frame: Beginning of recruitment to end of data collection (approximately 3-6 months)
Percentage of participants who completed the study out of those who enrolled. Higher percentage [split by condition] will indicate greater feasibility.
Beginning of recruitment to end of data collection (approximately 3-6 months)
Perception of Beverage Supply (Feasibility)
Time Frame: Assessed at the end of week 6
Percentage of participants whose response to "How was the supply of beverages you received throughout the study?" is "just right" [as opposed to "too little" or "too much"]. Higher percentage [split by condition] will indicate greater feasibility.
Assessed at the end of week 6

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Average Blood Alcohol Content Across 6 Weeks
Time Frame: Study weeks 1-6
Average blood alcohol content (measured via breathalyzer) across the 6-week period split by condition.
Study weeks 1-6
Change in Blood Alcohol Content Across 6 Weeks
Time Frame: Treatment entry to week 6
Slopes of blood alcohol content separated by condition for: a) start of treatment to pre-study and b) during the 6-week study period [split by condition].
Treatment entry to week 6
Average Number of Days with Breathalyzer Readings
Time Frame: Assessed at 6 weeks.
Average number of days with breathalyzer readings across the 6-week study.
Assessed at 6 weeks.
Median Number of Breathalyzer Readings Among Days with Readings
Time Frame: Assessed at 6 weeks.
Median number of breathalyzer readings among days with readings across the 6-week study.
Assessed at 6 weeks.
Change in Reported Alcohol Use
Time Frame: Baseline to 6 weeks.
Percentage of participants endorsing use of study-provided beverages who experienced (a) increase in alcohol use (defined as change in average use per week pre-study to average use per week across the study), (b) no change in alcohol use, (c) decrease in alcohol use [split by condition].
Baseline to 6 weeks.
Perceived Change in Craving
Time Frame: Assessed at 6 weeks.
Percentage of participants endorsing use of study-provided beverages who reported (a) increased in desire to drink alcohol, (b) no change in desire to drink alcohol, (c) decreased desire to drink alcohol [split by condition] in response to the item "When I drink the study provided beverages I experience…Less desire to drink alcohol; No change in my desire to drink alcohol; or More desire to drink alcohol.
Assessed at 6 weeks.
Perceived Change in Alcohol Use
Time Frame: Assessed at 6 weeks.
Percentage of participants endorsing use of study-provided beverages who reported (a) increased in alcohol use, (b) no change in alcohol use, (c) increased alcohol use [split by condition] in response to the item "Because I drink the study provided beverages I drink...Less alcohol than I otherwise would; The same amount of alcohol that I otherwise would; or More alcohol than I otherwise would."
Assessed at 6 weeks.
Perceived Impact of Beverages on Recovery
Time Frame: Assessed at 6 weeks.
Percentage of participants who responded to the item "What impact did the study provided beverages have on your recovery from alcohol use disorder?" with (a) Harmful; (b) No impact; or (c) Helpful [split by condition].
Assessed at 6 weeks.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Stanford University

Collaborators

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Molly A Bowdring, PhD, Stanford University

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

May 14, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

August 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

August 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 27, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 27, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

March 5, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 29, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 27, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 83997
  • 1K99AA031716 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Data will be uploaded to the NIAAA data archive

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Analytic code, data, and data dictionary will be uploaded upon at the time of primary results submission to an academic journal.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • ANALYTIC_CODE

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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