Last Call? How America's Drinking Decline Signals a Healthier Population, and Where GLP-1s Fit In

Something remarkable is happening at the liquor store, and it says a lot about where our collective health is heading. Americans are drinking less than at almost any point in modern history, and the trend is accelerating. This isn't just a story about beverage sales. It's a window into a population that is rethinking its relationship with alcohol as part of a broader shift toward health and wellness. And one of the more surprising forces now nudging that trend along is a class of medications you've almost certainly heard of: GLP-1s.

The Numbers Behind the Decline

The headline statistic is genuinely historic. According to Gallup, only 54% of American adults reported drinking alcohol in 2025, the lowest figure since the organization began tracking the behavior in 1939 [1]. That's down from 62% in 2023, a drop of eight percentage points in just two years that public health researchers describe as relatively rapid and historically significant [2].

The retail data mirrors the survey data. Liquor store sales totaled $112 billion in 2024, down nearly 1% from 2023, then fell another 3.4% in 2025 to $110 billion, with spirits, beer, and wine all declining in both years [3]. Beer consumption has sunk to its lowest level in more than a generation [4]. And it's not confined to one region or retailer. Ohio, for example, saw liquor sales fall for the fourth year in a row in 2025 [5].

Meanwhile, the "sober-curious" alternative is booming. Non-alcoholic beer sales grew roughly 19% year over year in 2025, surpassing $1 billion, one of the few bright spots in an otherwise contracting category [3]. The non-alcoholic beer, wine, and spirits segment overall posted around 22% year-over-year growth [6].

This Is a Health Story First

Why are people putting down the glass? The reasons cluster tightly around wellness. A 2026 YouGov analysis found that among Americans drinking less, the top reasons were a reduced desire to drink, health concerns, and cost [7]. Alcohol is increasingly being viewed as simply unhealthy, and for a growing number of consumers, even "moderation" is no longer the goal [8].

This is being led, unsurprisingly, by younger generations. Researchers point to Gen Z as creating a genuine cultural shift, citing rising health concerns as a primary driver alongside cost and changing social norms [5]. Rather than the "party as hard as you can" ethos of earlier decades, younger consumers are adopting what analysts call "deliberate wellness," planning ahead how much they'll drink, or choosing not to at all [8].

It's worth being honest about the nuance here, because the data isn't perfectly clean. Some industry surveys suggest that when Gen Z does drink, participation hasn't vanished so much as changed shape, with younger people favoring low-alcohol spritzers, small-format cocktails, and premium curated experiences over high-volume drinking [2]. In other words, part of the story is drinking less, and part of it is drinking differently. But both point in the same direction: a population treating alcohol as something to be managed thoughtfully rather than consumed by default.

Enter the GLP-1 Effect

Here's where the story takes an unexpected turn. The same GLP-1 medications transforming diabetes and weight management, semaglutide and its relatives, appear to independently reduce the desire to drink. And as prescriptions for these drugs have soared, that side effect may be quietly reinforcing the broader decline.

For years, this was just anecdote. Doctors and patients kept noticing that people on GLP-1s spontaneously reported wanting alcohol less. Now the science is catching up. In February 2025, a phase 2 randomized, placebo-controlled trial published in JAMA Psychiatry found that weekly semaglutide reduced alcohol cravings and consumption in adults with alcohol use disorder [9]. One researcher described it as demonstrating, for the first time, a causal effect of semaglutide on the amount of alcohol people drink [10]. In that trial, participants taking the medication cut their drinks per drinking day and reduced heavy drinking days compared to placebo [11].

The broader evidence base has grown quickly. A 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis published in eClinicalMedicine (part of The Lancet's family of journals) pooled fourteen studies encompassing more than five million people and concluded that GLP-1 receptor agonists, particularly semaglutide and liraglutide, reduce alcohol use and show beneficial effects on consumption, relapse, and alcohol-related illness [12].

The proposed mechanism is elegant. These drugs are thought to act on the brain's reward and craving pathways, the same circuitry involved in appetite [13]. By dampening the reward response, semaglutide seems to reduce the pull not just of food, but of alcohol as well [13]. Researchers are careful to note that dedicated large-scale trials are still needed to confirm the effect and define how best to use it [12], but the direction of the evidence is striking.

Why This Matters for Public Health

Step back, and the significance comes into focus. Alcohol is not a minor health footnote. In the U.S., an estimated 178,000 deaths per year are attributed to alcohol consumption, and excess drinking is clearly linked to heart disease, liver disease, and several cancers [14]. Yet of the roughly 29% of adults who meet criteria for alcohol use disorder at some point in their lives, fewer than 10% receive treatment in a given year, and only three medications have ever been FDA-approved for it [14].

That treatment gap is exactly why the GLP-1 findings are so promising. As one group of investigators noted, the rapidly increasing clinical uptake of these medications could lower barriers to addressing problem drinking, including in primary care settings where alcohol treatments have historically been hard to scale [15]. A tool that millions of people are already taking, that also happens to reduce harmful drinking, could reach people that traditional addiction treatment never does.

The Bigger Picture

The decline in alcohol sales isn't a fluke or a passing fad. It's the visible surface of a deeper current: a population, led by its youngest adults, increasingly treating health as a daily priority and viewing alcohol through that lens. GLP-1 medications are now adding a genuine biological tailwind to a cultural shift that was already well underway.

For those of us focused on helping people live healthier lives, this convergence is exactly the kind of trend worth understanding and supporting. Whether someone is rethinking their relationship with alcohol for wellness reasons, exploring a GLP-1 for metabolic health, or simply curious about how these pieces fit together, the throughline is the same: small, deliberate choices, supported by good care and good science, add up to a healthier, longer, and happier life. At Mana Loa Health, that's the future we're building toward, one informed decision at a time.

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Patient safety is Mana Loa Health's top priority. The information discussed on this blog is not intended to recommend the self management of health problems or wellness. It is not intended to endorse or recommend any particular type of medical treatment or advice. The information provided on this website is for informational purposes and not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have questions or concerns about your health, please talk to your healthcare provider. No information contained on this blog should be used by any reader to disregard medical and/or health related advice or provide a basis to delay consultation with a physician or a qualified healthcare provider.

References

1. Alcohol Consumption Statistics in US 2026, citing Gallup 2025 survey. The Global Statistics (2026). https://www.theglobalstatistics.com/alcohol-consumption-statistics-in-us/

2. Ibid. (Gallup drinking rate drop from 62% in 2023 to 54% in 2025, confirmed by research in Addiction; IWSR data on Gen Z drinking patterns). https://www.theglobalstatistics.com/alcohol-consumption-statistics-in-us/

3. Declines in alcohol use have hit NJ, U.S. liquor sales, citing NielsenIQ data. Yahoo Finance / NorthJersey.com (2026). https://finance.yahoo.com/news/declines-alcohol-hit-nj-u-081425866.html

4. Generational Consumption Changes Are Redefining Risk in Alcoholic-Beverage Makers. ProSight Financial Association (2026). https://www.prosightfa.org/insights/generational-consumption-changes-are-redefining-risk-in-alcoholic-beverage-makers/

5. Ohio's liquor sales down fourth year in a row as country drinks less. Columbus Dispatch / AOL (2026). https://www.aol.com/articles/ohios-liquor-sales-down-fourth-110222421.html

6. Are People Going To Drink More Or Less Alcohol In 2026?, citing NielsenIQ 2025 report. Tasting Table (2026). https://www.tastingtable.com/2100714/are-people-drinking-more-or-less-in-2026/

7. Why 36% of Americans are drinking less alcohol in 2026. YouGov (2026). https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/55082-why-36-of-americans-are-drinking-less-alcohol-in-2026

8. Are People Going To Drink More Or Less Alcohol In 2026? Tasting Table / Yahoo (2026). https://www.tastingtable.com/2100714/are-people-drinking-more-or-less-in-2026/

9. Hendershot, C. S., et al. (2025). Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults with Alcohol Use Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Psychiatry. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2024.4789

10. Weight Loss Drug Curbs Alcohol Cravings, Consumption. Medscape (2025). https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/weight-loss-drug-curbs-alcohol-cravings-consumption-2025a10003qi

11. Semaglutide Shows Promise in Reducing Cravings for Alcohol, Heavy Drinking. UNC Health Newsroom (2025). https://news.unchealthcare.org/2025/02/semaglutide-shows-promise-in-reducing-cravings-for-alcohol-heavy-drinking/

12. Effects of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists on alcohol consumption: a systematic review and meta-analysis. eClinicalMedicine / The Lancet (2025). https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(25)00579-6/fulltext

13. GLP-1 medications: The next big thing in alcohol use disorder treatment? Recovery Research Institute (2025). https://www.recoveryanswers.org/research-post/glp-1-medications-next-big-thing-alcohol-use-disorder-treatment/

14. GLP-1 Drug Semaglutide Reduced Heavy Drinking & Craving in Adults with Alcohol Use Disorder. Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (2025). https://bbrfoundation.org/content/glp-1-drug-semaglutide-ozempic-wegovy-reduced-heavy-drinking-craving-adults-alcohol-use

15. Weight Loss Drug Curbs Alcohol Cravings, Consumption, quoting study investigators. Medscape (2025). https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/weight-loss-drug-curbs-alcohol-cravings-consumption-2025a10003qi