DOES ALCOHOL ADD DANGEROUS SUGAR TO YOUR BODY?

 STAY AVERAGE: DRINK IN MODERATION

Alcohol and sugar are two of the most commonly consumed substances in the world. Both can be found in a variety of foods and drinks, and both have been shown to have their plus points, particularly the latter. Sugar is a simple carbohydrate that provides essential energy to the body. Both items have, however, been linked to various health problems.

Alcohol (ethanol) is a toxin and is given metabolic preference by the body, to be broken down before other foods and drinks. The liver can break down, on average, a standard drink an hour. Any more than this makes a person tipsy and then drunk. This is because the liver can’t keep up with the intake, and the alcohol starts making its way through the body.

Food eaten with alcohol takes second place. The body will break down the alcohol first and then the food. If there is a lot of liquor consumed with food, the body will break down the food eaten into fat and store it in the body – the common storage areas are tummy and hips! Alcohol is often referred to as “empty calories”, meaning, it has no micro-nutrients in it. Micro- nutrients are things like vitamins and essential amino acids. Alcohol does provide energy, however, on its own it is not enough to sustain life for any length of time.

The main chemical pathway for breaking down alcohol is: Ethanol (alcohol) -> Acetaldehyde -> Acetate -> Water and CO2. Acetaldehyde is a toxic by-product and known carcinogen. Thankfully this by-product is short lived.

At each stage of the reaction, bonds are broken and energy released. Alcohol does provide calories, which is probably why it dulls the appetite. For example a person may have come home starving for dinner, had a beer and then not felt it was so urgent about eating after that.

While drinking too much alcohol is never a good idea, it can be part of a healthy diet when you drink in moderation. What you drink does matter, though: Certain alcoholic drinks contain a large amount of sugar, which decreases their value in your healthy eating plan. Other types of alcohol don't contain sugar, which makes them a better choice if you enjoy a drink on a regular basis.

Sugar in Alcohol

VERY ENTICING

A 4-ounce pina colada is one of the alcoholic beverages with the most sugar. It contains 28 grams of added sugar, though it all comes from ingredients other than the alcohol. A 4-ounce daiquiri has 6.7 grams of sugar, again none of it from the actual alcohol. Gin, rum, whisky and vodka don't contain any added sugar. Beer doesn't have added sugar either. A 1.5-ounce shot of creme de menthe contains a whopping 21 grams of sugar. A 5-ounce glass of red or white wine contains about 1 gram of sugar, which comes from the grapes rather than from added sugar.

Dangers of Sugar

The sugar to fuel your body should come from healthy foods, such as fruit, rather than foods that contain added sugar such as desserts. Too much added sugar puts you at a higher risk for obesity, hypertension, dental decay and the long-term risk of diabetes. It'll also elevate your triglycerides, which raises your chances of developing heart disease. According to the Mayo Clinic website, women shouldn't consume more than 6 teaspoons of sugar each day and men shouldn't have more than 9 teaspoons. That's equal to 24 and 36 grams, respectively. Choosing beer, wine or hard liquor rather than mixed cocktails can help you consume far less sugar. 

Current Recommendations

Drinking in moderation might actually be beneficial to your health. For example, drinking a glass of red wine can lower your risk of heart disease. That doesn't mean you can drink as much as you want, however. Women shouldn't have more than one drink per day and men should limit themselves to two drinks. One drink is equal to 1.5 ounces of hard liquor, such as whisky or rum, 5 ounces of wine or 12 ounces of beer. Regularly drinking more than this can lead to weight gain, just as eating too much sugar can. The calories in alcohol are empty calories, which means that the drinks don't also contain essential vitamins and minerals so the calories aren't contributing anything to your health. Over time, too many of these empty calories can cause you to put on excess weight, according to the USDA.

Non-Dietary Considerations

Excessive Drinking: Drinking too much alcohol causes you to become intoxicated, which can make driving dangerous. Being drunk also increases your risk of dangerous and violent behaviour. Alcohol misuse is associated with 88,000 premature deaths each year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Regularly drinking too much alcohol is also associated with an increase in your risk of developing breast, colon and liver cancer. You'll also be at a higher risk for cirrhosis of the liver and high blood pressure.

Calorie Count:  Alcoholic beverages are often high in calories, and most provide no real nutrients. Alcohol contains more calories per ounce than carbohydrates or protein. When you combine alcoholic beverages with high-calorie foods, you may end up eating more than you would have if you had eaten those same foods while consuming a nonalcoholic beverage. If you do drink alcoholic beverages, choose wisely, as some are much lower in calories than others.

Beer and Wine

Since alcohol is fermented sugar, there is a relation between the amount of alcohol and the number of calories. Therefore, if you drink something with a lower alcohol content, you are consuming fewer calories – assuming that both drinks are ‘dry’ (without residual sugar). Beer and wine tend to have the lowest number of calories per ounce among alcoholic drinks. Light beers have the fewest calories, with many containing fewer than 100 calories for a 12-ounce bottle, although some contain almost as many calories as regular beer. Red and white wine are also relatively low in calories, with between 100 and 125 calories per 5-ounce glass. Regular beer contains about 140 to 200 calories per 12-ounce bottle. Dessert wines are higher in sugar and may be reinforced or "fortified" with additional alcohol, bringing them up to about 165 calories per 3.5-ounce glass. Interestingly, a glass of champagne comes out relatively low on the calorie count.

Statistics from the NHS puts the calorie content of a 5% ABV pint of beer at 239kcal – roughly the same as a Mars bar. The average calorie content of a 175ml glass of 12% ABV wine is 133kcal. Logic would therefore dictate that beer might prove to be more fattening, but once again the evidence seems to be unclear at best. A 2015 review of studies cited by the BBC found that neither wine nor beer drinkers tend to gain weight in the short-term. The long term is definitely deleterious to both shape and health.

Hard Liquor

Hard liquor usually has more calories than beer or wine. Each fluid ounce of 80-proof distilled spirits, including rum, gin, whisky and vodka, contains 64 calories, making the typical 1.5-ounce serving about 96 calories. Liqueurs tend to be higher in calories, because they're higher in sugar. For example, a 1.5-ounce serving of chocolate liquor has 105 calories; the same-sized serving of coffee liquor has 175 calories.

Mixed Drinks

Mixed drinks tend to have the most calories of all, but some are better choices than others. A 4-ounce mimosa contains 80 calories, a 5-ounce wine spritzer or an 8-ounce rum-and-diet-cola about 100 calories. A 5-ounce bloody Mary and an 8-ounce Tom Collins both contain 120 calories, a Manhattan has 130 calories, a 3-ounce green apple martini contains about 150 calories and a 2.5-ounce martini or an 8-ounce whiskey sour contains 160 calories. Oversized cocktails, or those containing high-fat ingredients such as heavy cream or coconut cream, can be substantially higher in calories.

Recommended Consumption

Alcohol should only be consumed by people of legal drinking age and in moderation, which means women should have no more than one drink per day and men no more than two. Pregnant women should not consume alcohol and neither should those who have a history of alcoholism.

Can You Get a Beer Belly From Liquor?

A beer belly is just a term for the excess of abdominal fat around the middle, but it doesn't only occur from drinking beer. You can actually grow a belly from any number of foods and drinks. What matters is how many calories you consume, not necessarily where the calories come from. Because hard liquors alone have fewer calories than a beer, it might take longer for a beer belly to grow, but it's always possible when you're taking in more calories than you burn.

Beer Belly

A beer belly is really just the excess of abdominal fat. Beer doesn't necessarily have to be involved for you to develop the infamous beer belly. Drinking beer can certainly contribute to the growth of abdominal fat, according to Mayo Clinic, but it's the calories not the beer itself that causes this to happen. The average 12-ounce beer contains about 153 calories. If you drink too many beers, all those calories will likely translate to weight gain, which often happens around the middle. Many people enjoy unhealthy snacks, such as hot wings and potato skins, while they're having a beer or two. Those calories contribute to the development of a big gut, as well.

Liquor & A Beer Belly

Any type of alcohol can play a role in the formation of a beer belly, according to Mayo Clinic. Straight shots of hard liquor, such as vodka, rum, tequila and whisky contain about 64 calories per ounce, so it'll take longer for the calories to cause a beer belly, but it is possible. Mixed drinks that contain hard liquor can have similar amounts or many more calories than the average beer, however, and that means that liquor might be even more to blame than beer. A pina colada, for example, contains 245 calories, and a daiquiri has about 112 calories. Wine might be the exception, the Clinic notes. Wine may not contribute to a beer belly the same way liquor does, but further research is needed to determine if that's true and why it's the case.

Dangers of a Beer Belly

You might be self-conscious about your beer belly, but you should also worry about the implications it has for your health. The abdominal fat characteristic of a beer belly is called visceral fat. Carrying around excess amounts of visceral fat raises your risk of heart disease and Type 2 diabetes, according to Harvard Medical School. Too much visceral fat can also put you at a higher risk for colon cancer and sleep apnea. 

Tips and Considerations

If you have a beer belly, make an appointment with your doctor to create a plan that will help you lose the excess weight and improve your overall health and well-being. Because beer and alcohol can contribute to a beer belly, restrict your intake of both. Cut back to an occasional beer, shot of liquor or mixed cocktail. That will help you reduce how many calories you consume, which can translate to weight loss and the elimination of your beer belly. Eat a healthy diet and get plenty of exercise as additional ways to help you lose your belly.

Are Sugar-Free Beverages Dangerous?

Artificially sweetened beverages may lead to weight gain instead of weight loss. One potential reason for this is that people overcompensate for the calories saved by drinking these beverages and end up increasing their daily caloric intake. The sweeteners may increase sugar cravings, and thus the consumption of more sweets in the diet, which is another potential cause for weight gain. A third theory is that when you eat a sweet food that doesn't contain the calories your body expects to accompany the sweet taste, it isn't as satisfying, and this may cause food cravings as your body seeks out those expected calories.

Increased Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome Risk

Drinking diet soda isn't necessarily a good idea for people at risk for Type 2 diabetes. While a causal relationship hasn't been proven, a study published in "Diabetes Care" in January 2009 found that drinking diet soda at least once a day was associated with a 67 percent higher risk for developing Type 2 diabetes and a 36 percent higher risk for developing metabolic syndrome compared to not drinking diet soda.

Risk of Preterm Labour

Pregnant women may want to be particularly careful and avoid artificially sweetened beverages. A study published in "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" in June 2010 found that drinking this type of beverage may make you more likely to deliver prematurely. These results are preliminary, however, so further studies are necessary to confirm these findings.

Other Potential Risks

You can save calories by mixing alcohol with diet soda instead of regular soda, but this practice may make you more likely to become intoxicated, according to a study published in "Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research" in October 2011. Sugar helps slow down the release of alcohol from the stomach, so removing the sugar from the drink means the alcohol hits your bloodstream more quickly. Artificial sweeteners have also been linked by some studies to potential increases in the risk for low birth weight, cancer, migraines and liver problems, although these results are still controversial and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers artificial sweeteners to be generally regarded as safe.