Beer Alcohol Calories And Health – A Conscious Approach To Beer Consumption

Many persons – especially young personssilicon, an important mineral for the healthy of
– who wish to approach the beer, often havebones: women who moderately drink beer seem
questions about the quantity of alcohol in theto have a higher bone density, and this may be
beer, the effect of alcohol on their health and thehighly significant in fighting osteoporosis. 
calories supplied by beer. Generally, they haveNow we can agree on the point that a moderate
concern if a regular consumption of beer mayquantity of beer is an ally rather that an enemy
damage their health or contribute to make growof our health. But what about calories? Are you
in weight (a current nightmare of richsure that drinking beer does not make us fat? To
civilizations….) and they want to know theanswer this question, please have the patience to
recommended amount and why it is better to notsuffer a little bit of math. Beer is largely made of
exceed. water (more than 90 per cent) where the
Since the safest way to approach alcohol is tosubstances which confer its characteristic flavour
know it, this article wants to give simple basicare dissolved: useful minerals (potassium,
answers to these common questions: magnesium), B vitamins, phenolic compounds and
1. how does alcohol work and what its effectsother elements without caloric relevance. The
are?calories of a beer are mainly provided by the
2. how much alcohol and calories are contained incontent of alcohol and unfermented
a beer?carbohydrates (i.e. the amount of carbohydrates
3. what is the recommended consumption for aremaining from the fermentation process): alcohol
safe drinking? provides about 7 kcal per gram, carbohydrates 4
Having a clear vision of these basic questions andkcal per gram. The quantity of alcohol and carbs
answers may help, I hope, to approach beer (orare really variable depending on the different
wine or other alcoholic beverages) without fearrecipes and beer styles. A 250 ml intake of
and without superficiality.normal lager (the most consumed in the world)
Of course, first answer would require a muchmay contain about 9 g alcohol and something as
deeper discussion. Basically, we can say that7-8 g carbs: it provides less than 100 kcal. This is
alcohol we find in alcoholic beverages comes fromnot dramatic, anyway is less than the calories of
fermentation of sugars contained in fruits or, as ina sugared soft drink like Coke (110 kcal for a 250
the case of beer, from starch contained inml intake). 
cereals. After digestion, alcohol enters the blood: inLet us come to question three now: the proper
this way, it reaches the brain and goes round thequantity for a safe drinking. To be honest, we
whole organism. Using specific enzymes, livershould say that probably only God knows what it
transforms it in substances that kidneys, lungsis for each one of us. However, the health
and skin eliminate through urine, breath and sweat.authorities of most countries have defined a
In normal conditions, we assume that the liver isrecommended daily or weekly consumption which
able to transform about 6 grams of alcohol everycan be taken as a valid guide to not incur risks.
hour. Since 330 ml serving of a lager or pilsnerThe other valid guide is ourselves: every one can
beer (roughly equivalent to 12 fluid oz) at 4.5 %learn to detect when the amount of assumed
ABV contains approximately 12 g of alcohol (4.5%alcohol is going to become excessive before it has
of 330 cc is 14,85 ml alcohol by volume, this isbecome excessive. Recommended values are
equivalent to 12 g alcohol by weight), it meansslightly different in each country, generally we can
that it takes two hours to fully dispel a standardsay they are in the range 20-40 g a day for
can of beer. The elimination is much easier ifhealthy men, 16-30 g for healthy women. In USA
alcohol is assumed during meals, since in this case,the limit for men is 14-28 g/day, with
the release of alcohol into blood happens morerecommendation to not exceed 196 g/week (14
gradually. Alcohol has hence a primary impact ong/day, 98 g/week for women). 
the liver: if liver is charged by a continuous heavyA good reason to follow the guideline is that
work to transform alcohol, it may incur gravealcohol may create dependencies and push us to
diseases. assume always increasing quantities. Guidelines are
The key fact to keep in mind is that the effectsprecious, but in practice, how can we calculate
of alcohol on our health strongly depend on thehow much grams of alcohol are in a beer? This is
quantity. There are no doubts that a prolongedthe last task we have to complete. The alcohol
heavy consumption of alcoholic beverages iscontent of a beverage is commonly expressed as
harmful to health and may cause serious diseasespercentage of the volume (Alcohol By Volume).
as cirrhosis, stomach cancer, ulcers and mentalFor example, 4.5 ABV means that 4.5 % of the
disorders. But scientific studies carried out in lastvolume is constituted of alcohol. So, a 330 ml can
century have highlighted that a moderateof beer (roughly equivalent to a 12 U.S. fluid oz
consumption of alcohol may be beneficial on manycan, which is 355 ml) contains 14.85 ml of alcohol.
respects: moderate drinkers result to be moreTo obtain the value in grams, we have to multiply
protected against hearth attacks, hypertension,by the specific weight of alcohol, i.e. 0.79: a 330 ml
peripheral artery diseases and so on. There is acan of beer, contains 11.73 g alcohol (as
long list of proved benefits of a low alcoholhomework, you can take fun to determine the
consumption. Moreover, beer is not just alcohol:exact alcohol amount contained in a 12 U.S. fluid
like wine, beer contains polyphenols, which haveoz can!). Following the government indication, if
been demonstrated to have a significant effect inyou are a woman, you would better give up
protecting cells against the bad effects of freedrinking for that day.
radicals. Beer also has a high concentration of