As the season of champagne, rum and eggnog, and holiday party cocktails winds down, Canadians now have a new resource for monitoring their alcohol consumption.
The University of Victoria’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research launched knowalcohol.ca on Jan. 2. The web-based resource provides users with detailed information about alcohol consumption, offering a personal touch that sets it apart from other tools.
“It allows users to get more personalized or customized information about their health-related risks from alcohol, as well as calories and costs of alcohol for their own use,” said Tim Naimi, director of the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research.
Know Alcohol doesn’t just highlight the risks—it also emphasizes the benefits of cutting back.
“It'll tell them how much they reduce the risk of death or how many minutes of life they regain per drink not consumed, as well as cigarette equivalents,” said Naimi.
The website builds on a 2023 report from the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction: Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health. The report determined that consuming two standard drinks or fewer per week minimizes alcohol-related consequences.
The goal of Know Alcohol is to help consumers make more informed decisions by presenting the risks of alcohol consumption in a personalized and accessible way.
“This is the first app in the world, as far as I know, that does this detailed modeling about individualized levels of risk,” said Naimi.
“The calculator portion of the site is quite sophisticated, and it’s the first in the world to provide this information, as well as cigarette and calorie equivalents.”
Accessibility was a key priority in developing the tool. Naimi and his team found that in a sea of misinformation, Canadians want credible, trustworthy information.
“Most of the messaging around drinking comes through media, marketing and advertising from the alcohol industry,” said Naimi.
“Our feeling is that it’s the consumer’s right to know. Consumers should be empowered with better knowledge about alcohol consumption in terms of its health risks and how to mitigate those risks.”
The holidays often bring overindulgence, and for many, the new year marks a chance to cut back with initiatives like Dry January. But Naimi says it’s important to keep alcohol risks in mind year-round.
“You can’t just brush your teeth once and expect never to have cavities, right? So, you’ve got to keep informing people,” said Naimi.
“Canadians’ knowledge about alcohol use and its risks is pretty poor. For example, less than half the population knows that alcohol causes cancer and is classified as a group 1 carcinogen—the highest level of cancer-causing substances, like tobacco smoke, benzene or asbestos.”
That said, Know Alcohol isn’t about lecturing people—it’s about informing them.
“[People] don’t want to be told what to do, but they do want to be informed. And that’s the purpose of this,” said Naimi.
“The goal is not to tell people what to do but to empower them to make their own decisions.”
