If you drink alcohol, it’s important to keep within the recommended guidelines – whether you drink every day, once or twice a week or just occasionally. The recommended upper limits are:
- 2–3 units daily for women
- 3–4 units daily for men
If you exceed these limits, it is regarded as binge drinking. In the long term heavy drinking (binge drinking) can increase your risk of high blood pressure and coronary heart disease (1, 2).
In the short term, alcohol adds greatly to your calorie count. The process of fermenting and distilling natural starch and sugar to make alcoholic drinks means they contain lots of ‘empty calories’. They are known as ‘empty calories’ because they have no nutritional value. A regular intake of extra calories makes it difficult to maintain a healthy weight.
Here are a few shocking facts about our favorite tipples:
Alcohol | Calories | Units | Food Equivalent |
3 Pints of Lager | 768 Kcal | 9 | Double Cheeseburger & Medium Fries |
3 Bottles Of Alcopops | 552 Kcal | 3.3 | 3 Slices of Regular Meat Feast Pizza |
2 Pints of Cider | 448 Kcal | 6 | Chinese Takeaway Chicken Fried Rice |
2 Large Glasses of Red Wine | 340 Kcal | 6.8 | 1 ½ Vanilla Cupcakes |
1 Vodka & Energy Drink | 139 Kcal | 1.3 | 3 Biscuits |
3 Pinã Coladas | 1758 Kcal | 7.9 | Indian Takeaway Chicken Korma, Rice, 3 Poppadoms & 2 Onion Bhaji |
Alcohol also reduces the amount of fat our bodies can burn. Because we cannot store alcohol our bodies must get rid of it, so it makes it a priority. Therefore, other processes such as absorbing nutrients and burning fat are forced to slow down. (3)
For further information on alcohol visit Drink aware website www.drinkaware.co.uk
1. ‘Alcohol & Heart Disease’, http://yourtotalhealth.ivillage.com/alcohol-heart-disease.html?pageNum=4
2. The Academy of Medical Sciences 2004, ‘Calling time: The nation’s drink as a major health issue’, March.
3. www.drinkaware.co.uk/facts/factsheets/alcohol–and–heart–disease