IS BOOZE TO BLAME FOR YOUR BOEP?

All alcoholic drinks contain kilojoules, almost all of which are usually in excess of our physical requirements. But unlike other nutrients in our diet, the kilojoules found in the alcoholic part of your beverage [not the mixer you pour with it] can’t be stored in the human body. Alcohol is toxic and so must take priority to be burnt off, which is what our liver does. But while our liver is busy burning excess alcohol when we drink, it doesn’t have the need to burn fat from other sources. So that might explain why you’re developing a boep. The alcohol itself may be only a small part of the weight problem, if at all. In one study researchers fed participants an excess of kilojoules for two weeks either in the form of milk chocolate or as an equivalent amount of alcoholic spirits. Not surprisingly, the chocolate eaters gained 3kg. But what was surprising was that the drinkers did not get fatter (at least in the short term), despite the fact that their energy imbalance was much the same.

So if it’s not actually the booze that makes the belly, then maybe it’s what comes with it that counts?

In the same way, while beer drinkers have their obvious beer bellies, wine drinkers don’t, even after adjusting for the amount of alcohol they consume and the food they eat.

The most likely reason is that, along with alcohol, beer usually also comes with plenty of carbs. For example, an average glass of beer contains as many kilojoules as a can of cola. We all know what too many soft drinks do to our waistlines.

A glass of red wine also contains about the same number of kilojoules as a glass of beer, while white wine has only slightly fewer. But a beer drinker will generally drink a greater volume of beer than a wine drinker will drink wine. And that’s probably the reason for the infamous beer belly.