The National Obesity Observatory has published a report on the links between alcohol consumption and obesity:
Download: Obesity and alcohol – an overview
The report states that although there is no clear causal relationship between alcohol consumption and obesity, there are associations between the two which are heavily influenced by lifestyle, genetic and social factors. Many people are also not aware of the calories contained in alcoholic drinks which can contain "nutrient poor" calories, for instance there are up to 180 calories in a large glass of wine and 250 calories in a pint of strong lager.
Further key points from the report include:
- The effects of alcohol on body weight may be more pronounced in overweight and obese people
- Alcohol consumption can lead to an increase in food intake
- Heavy, but less frequent drinkers seem to be at higher risk of obesity than moderate, frequent drinkers
- The relationships between obesity and alcohol consumption differ between men and women
- Excess body weight and alcohol consumption appear to act together to increase the risk of liver cirrhosis
- There is emerging evidence of a link between familial risk of alcohol dependency and obesity in women
Many factors may be at play. Men tend to drink more beer, which may account for increasing waist measurements in males. Moreover, excess body weight coupled with alcohol consumption act together to increase the risk of liver cirrhosis. The links are important considering rising levels of obesity.
In 2010 the Liverpool John Moore's University published the report 'Alcohol and food: making the public health connections' which called for a "move away from seeing alcohol as a means to achieve inebriation to regarding it as an accompaniment to food with both being consumed in moderation."
Alcohol Concern have called for a greater public awareness of calories in alcoholic drinks, and for calorific information to be available at the point of sale.
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