Can Wine Make You Thin?

A recent statement from the department of health has suggested that women who drink over the recommended limit may increase their risk of breast cancer by up to 50%. This is a serious wake up call that alcohol may be more dangerous than many think.

The price of alcoholic drinks is allowing people to buy large quantities and has allowed many to increase their consumption. It is not uncommon for people to drink several bottles of wine a week, or maybe just at the weekend.

What is the story though on alcoholic drinks and weight loss though?

For years there has been controversy over alcohol consumption. I regularly have many of my clients telling me that it is good for you. They tell me a couple of glasses of wine can help you relax. Wine is a low fat product isn’t it?

Unfortunately they are often the same people who find it the hardest to lose weight, and get in shape.

So what’s the problem? No matter what way you look at things, alcohol is a toxin and the body has to rid itself of it as quick as possible. As soon as the drink enters the stomach and intestines the body starts absorbing the alcohol and other nutrients in the drink, usually alcoholic beverages contain a fair amount of sugars. This alcohol then flows around the body. The liver has the job of processing it and then flushing it from the system.

What causes the problems with regards to weight loss is that alcohol has a calorific content. Just 1 gram of alcohol contains 7 calories. This compares to protein and carbohydrate, which have 4 Kcals per gram and fat, which has 9. What makes alcohol an especially troublesome nutrient is that the energy cannot be stored. It must be used as quickly as possible.

When the body starts using the alcohol as a fuel the process of fat metabolism slows down. The energy that fat metabolism creates is not needed till the body has rid itself of the alcohol.

Now if you drank for instance a bottle of wine it could contain about 750 Kcals. This is about as much energy you would burn if you ran for a whole hour at a fast pace. For a woman it is about half of the recommended calories for a day. So if you are a woman and you drink two bottles of wine per week in theory to balance out the intake you should fast for one day.

It is this combination of the calories from the alcoholic drinks and the metabolism slowing process that it creates that can cause many people who drink regularly to find weight loss difficult.

If you are serious about losing weight and body fat it is recommended that you limit or remove alcoholic drinks from your diet at least until you have achieved you weight loss goals and instead drink low sugar soft drinks.