People who gave up alcohol divided over what 0.5% actually means

We're six days into January, which means it's almost been a week since millions of Dry Jan part-takers began turning to no and low alcoholic beverages - including 0.5 percent beers.

But what exactly does this statistic mean? How can something with 0.5 percent be considered alcohol-free? And does this mean you're not doing Dry Jan properly?

Well, it turns out that these are questions a lot of drinkers have been asking themselves in recent weeks - and so, we're here to spill the Virgin Long Island Iced Tea on everything you need to know about 0.5 percent bevs.

Many Dry Jan part-takers have been asking the same question about 0.5% beers (Isabel Pavia/Getty)

As we say, the idea of 'low alcoholic' beverages compared to 'zero alcohol' drinks have left many fun-time fans perplexed - especially with the annual month of obtaining from drinking having rolled back around.

Taking to Reddit, one user explained their dilemma on the matter, asking their followers for advice.

"Maybe the answer is very obvious, and you’re only alcohol free if there’s absolutely no alcohol in the drinks whatsoever," the anonymous individual wrote online.

"But I’ve heard so many different schools of thought so wondered what the general consesus is?"

They added: "I’ve also heard that it’s hard to remove alcohol completely so they legally have to say 0.5% even if they’ve done everything in their power to remove it. What are people’s thoughts?"

What does '0.5 percent' actually mean? (georgeclerke/Getty)

One replied: "I drink NA beers and AF Wines. For me it's fine. But imo [in my opinion] this question is phrased on this sub wrong almost every time. The issue shouldn't be about 0.5% anything because alcohol exists in our food, nature etc. (orange juice has more alcohol than 0.5% for example)."

Another chimed in, pointing out: "A university did a study on this and found more than 0.5% alcohol in burger buns and fruit juice. You can’t get drunk on them, it’s impossible. I drink them occasionally and consider myself alcohol free. I’m aware that some people in sobriety frown upon it, but it’s your sobriety not theirs."

Attempting to offer up an explanation, Lucky Saint - one of the UK's leading alcohol-free beer brands - recently opened up about the matter on their website.

"In Europe, America, New Zealand and many more countries, 0.5% is classified as alcohol-free," they explained. "Even after 10 pints, it’s impossible for this amount of alcohol to raise your BAC (Blood Alcohol Content)."

Bosses at the booze-free firm went on to explain that - like one of the Reddit debaters emphasised - many foods we eat as part of our day-to-day actually contain more alcohol than 0.5 percent beverages, including over-ripened bananas, a slice of rye bread, and a burger bun.

One alcohol-free beer brand has set the record straight (Extreme Media/Getty)

Discussing how the rule applies to British drinkers, Lucky Saint representatives explained that the system in the UK is 'out of whack with the whole of Europe', adding that the government 'only classifies 0.05% products as alcohol-free'.

"But plenty of groups are lobbying the government to reassess this outdated law, so hopefully they’ll soon update it," they went on.

And addressing why alcohol-free beer brands aren't allowed to advertise their products as being 'zero per cent' instead, they continued: "We use a unique vacuuming process in our brewery to remove the alcohol, allowing us to brew a lager that has the body of a full-strength beer.

"We decided to leave our beer containing 0.5% to maintain maximum flavour, without any of the alcohol effects."