Calories in Alcohol

According to Drink Aware a glass of wine has the same calories as a slice of cake and a pint of lager is the calorific equivalent of a burger. The average wine drinker consumes 2,000 additional calories each month, which equates to the equivalent of eating 184 bags of crisps or 38 roast beef dinners.

Wine, beer, cider, spirits and all our favourite tipples are made by fermenting and distilling natural starch and sugar. Being high in sugar means lots of calories – up to seven calories a gram in fact, which is high!

These calories have no nutritional value despite most alcoholic drinks contain traces of vitamins and minerals, however these are not usually in amounts that make any significant contribution to our diet.

The double whammy here is that drinking alcohol (even though it is tasty) reduces the amount of fat your body burns. We can store nutrients, protein, carbohydrates, and fat in our bodies, but not alcohol. Our systems want to get rid of it – and doing so takes priority. All of the other processes that should be taking place (including absorbing nutrients and burning fat) are interrupted. (1)

How many calories are in my drink?

When you hear someone state their drink is a meal in a glass they are actually telling the truth – it’s just not a very health one. The guys at Drink Aware state “a pint of bitter the same as a medium slice of pizza, and a standard size ‘ready to drink’ bottle (‘alcopop’) the same as 100g of cookies, the calories from alcohol soon add up…”. Below is the calories per drink:

Gin/vodka and tonic =126

Dark rum & coke =142

Medium glass of white wine (175ml) =130

Medium glass of red wine (175ml) =120

Bottle of wine (white) =555

Bottle of wine (red) =510
5% Lager (pint) =240-50

Cider (pint) =180-250

Stout (pint) =210

Bitter/Ale =180-230

Liqueur (50ml) =100 -170

Brandy (50ml) =110

Whiskey (25ml) =55

Mixed drink (Ready to drink) (275ml bottle) =160-228

Government guidelines for responsible drinking recommend that women should not regularly exceed 2-3 units daily and that men should not regularly exceed 3-4 units daily.