Alcohol contains 7 kilocalories per gram of alcohol. Two glasses of AUGUSTIJN contain about the same amount of calories as 70 gram sugar, which is about the same amount as 2 glasses of soda. Two glasses of WITTEKERKE, or BRUEGEL or any simple Pilsner beer, contain only half the amount of calories than the 2 glasses of soda. Since wine and hard liquor contain significantly more alcohol, they contain more calories.
The moderate drinker of beer will not become obese because of the beer drinking, which is confirmed in recent studies in Belgium. In the group of people who drank beer in the last year, there were less obese people, than in the group that had not drank any beer. An excessive drinker of beer has the tendency to become obese, because he or she has also other obese making life styles. For example: they have not enough physical activity (couch potato), and eat ‘linear’ which means lots of the same stuff, or they eat fat, calorie rich food like snacks, chips, nuts, fast food ... In most cases it is even a combination of those unhealthy life styles.
An interesting result of the study was that obesity had more to do with the level of education than with drinking beer. Lower educated people drinking no beer were more likely to be obese, than more highly educated people drinking beer on a daily basis.

Doctors doing the study, recommend to see beer as food, and part of your daily food intake. Does that beer belly exist now? Yes, when you are not wise enough to drink your daily beer with moderation, a healthy diet and exercise. Is playing pool or darts exercise?

Newsletter March 2000