Alcohol and the beer belly
Recently, it was announced that many food outlets will start displaying calorie counters on their menus. Now, it appears that the government would like to make drinkers aware of the calorie count in alcoholic drinks. Whether or not they will start demanding that the labelling includes the calorie count is not known.
The campaign aims to focus not just on the health risks but on the weight risks. Though much has been said about alcohol being “empty calories”, it appears that most people are either not aware of what this means or they choose to ignore it. Simply, it means that alcohol is loaded with calories without any other nutritive value. There is a reason that people refer to that paunch as “the beer belly”. The Know Your Limits campaign performed a survey which revealed that many people were unaware of the calorie contents of their alcoholic drinks. For example, a pint of beer is equal in calories to a doughnut, or a glass of wine is equal to a slice of cake.
Focusing on the health risks has not deterred people from drinking, so will focusing on calories and weight do it? It seems unlikely, since obese people are not deterred from eating all those fatty foods. Of course, campaigners argue that drinkers also eat unhealthy foods and this new awareness may change some of their eating habits. If it does, perhaps they can come up with some new ideas on how to curb the eating habits of those who are obese and consume enormous amounts of fat and cholesterol.
