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1994-01-17
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$Unique_ID{BRK01890}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{"Beer Bellies" Exist}
$Subject{Beer belly Bellies heavy source weight overweight obese beverage
drink calorie calories carbohydrate carbohydrates ferment fermentation alcohol
stout malt liquor ale Nonalcoholic consume consumption body burn burns use
uses fat diet liver digest digests digesting metabolize metabolizes
metabolizing}
$Volume{}
$Log{}
Copyright (c) 1993 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
"Beer Bellies" Exist
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QUESTION: My brother visited us during the holidays, and I was amazed to see
how heavy he had become. He didn't seem to eat much more than the rest of us,
but he had to have his daily quota of beer each day, as much as a six pack.
He is a hard working man, and I began to wonder if it was the beer that was
the source of his weight. Is the story about "beer bellies" really true? If
so, could you please explain how?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANSWER: Most people think that beer is just another beverage, not really a
food, and so probably the calories contained in a tall glass of beer don't
really count. Au contraire, not only do they count but they add up at a
surprisingly rapid pace. Beer is made from grain, and grains contain loads of
carbohydrates in the form of sugars and starch. When the process of
fermentation brought about by the yeast is over, these carbohydrates have been
converted into alcohol. Now instead of containing 4 calories per gram as
ordinary carbohydrate does, alcohol contains 7 calories per gram. Thus a
serving of ordinary beer contains about 143 calories, light beer weighs in at
108 calories, while stout, malt liquor and ale all contain more than 170
calories per serving. Nonalcoholic beer has but 68 calories per serving. A
six pack a day, you say? That really adds up, to almost 900 calories or about
1/3 the calories needed by a moderately active man each day. If this is added
to a normal food intake, it is clear that the added inches around the waist
may be the result of this over consumption of calories. But wait, there's
more. Some recent research seems to indicate that the body burns less fat
when there is alcohol present than it would achieve when no alcohol is
present in the diet. This may be the result of overloading the liver, which
is the organ responsible for digesting (metabolizing) the alcohol. Add this
to the fact that alcohol contains a large number of calories, consumed in
conjunction with a normal daily diet, and the reasons for the "beer belly"
becomes clear. Your brother would do well to cut back on the amount of beer,
and switch to a type of beer that contains less calories per serving.
----------------
The material contained here is "FOR INFORMATION ONLY" and should not replace
the counsel and advice of your personal physician. Promptly consulting your
doctor is the best path to a quick and successful resolution of any medical
problem.