Concerns are brewing for parents around zero percent alcohol, and whether or not children and teenagers should be drinking similar non-alcoholic beverages.
Australian research says many parents across the ditch were "conflicted and concerned" and some parents spoken to by 1News here in Aotearoa felt the same.
Zero percent alcohol looks, smells and tastes like the real thing, but because of it's lack of booze, the drinks can be bought by people of all ages.
Sarah Sneyd from Alcohol Healthwatch said she was concerned as people "can't tell the difference, kids and young people can't certainly tell the difference," and that the products may be normalising drinking.
"It's acting as a bit of a gateway to drinking alcohol when they're able to and the research confirms this, so I think parent's should be really concerned."
Auckland University research fellow Kate Kersey also thought the drinks were a away to socialise children into alcohol products.
"Obviously they don't have alcohol in them so we don't need to worry about it from that point of view, but it is a way of getting children socialised and teenagers socialised into alcohol and alcohol products."
The study said parents should be cautious and recommended not providing the drinks to teenagers.
1News spoke to people in the Christchurch area who had mixed views on the drinks.
"I think it's dumb," one individual said.
"I think it comes down to the parent's permission," said another.
"I don't 100% see all good, I don't see all bad."
One mother told 1News the situation was "difficult". "It's not really that encouraging for their health, is it? It does encourage [kids to drink], but the novelty — it's quite nice to sit around with adults and have something similar... there are pros and cons to everything."
'No evidence' 0% drinks lead to boozing
NZ Alcohol Beverages Council executive director Virginia Nicholls told 1News there was "no evidence that suggests that anyone drinking zero alcohol beer, wine or spirits will go on to drink fuller strength products to excess, as is implied in the research".
"Adolescent drinking has declined dramatically over the past 15-20 years in New Zealand and also in other OECD countries.
"In New Zealand, fewer young people under 18 are drinking alcohol and those who do are drinking less hazardously. However, more work needs to be done to continue to accelerate these changes."
According to the NZ Youth 2000 survey, "an increasing proportion of secondary school students are choosing not to drink".
"The proportion of secondary students who have never drank alcohol increased markedly from 26% in 2007, to 45% in 2019," Nicholls said.
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