Beer is one of the most popular drinks in the world and calories in beer are at the top of the chart from among calories in alcoholic beverages, primarily because of its composition. Beer is mainly made up of water and a variety of cereals – malted barley, malted wheat and hops for flavouring and contains yeast that assists in the fermentation. In simplest terms what this means is that beer has plenty of carbohydrates which convert into sugars and therefore contain plenty of calories thus the “beer belly” effect in beer drinkers. There is an excess of calories in the body which is not burned and this settles in the gut. After all, beer drinkers usually just sit around the bar and eat bar chow with beer and the beer calories are simply not burned this way.
Where it All Begun
Beer reportedly started in Europe, when cereals were first harvested and quickly spread throughout the world and now almost every country has its own home grown beverage but still with the same calories in beer. Across the world there is German Carlsberg, Irish Guinness, Dutch Heineken, American Budweiser, Japanese Sapporo, Chinese Tsingtao and Philippine San Miguel. Over the years, several varieties of beer have also been developed – lager, pilsen, draft, stout, mild and light beer. The latter does not necessarily mean it has much less beer calories as regular beer has about 148 calories per serving while a light beer has about 100. So there are still a lot of empty calories in beer, whether regular or light.
Beer Culture
A major problem of course is that nobody ever stops at one beer. Beer is also known to stimulate the appetite hence more food is eaten when served with beer and as parties last hours longer, the more beer there is then more food is consumed. Beer has even given birth to a culture of its own which encouraged pub games like darts, cards and pool where people sit around drinking beer all night, eating and moving from one table to another. And no party anywhere in the world, ever runs out of beer as this drink is always at the top of the list of beverages whenever a party is being planned. It is simply unthinkable to have no beer.
In the initiation of teens into drinking, beer is usually the first drink they try. Nobody ever realizes that the calories in beer are very high and if you start drinking in your teens, the size of your belly grows as you grow and learn to drink more. The sad fact is everything people put into their bodies affects their health. The empty calories in beer not burned are only a small part of it.
Body organs are affected by the beer and other alcoholic beverages that are consumed. The liver and the kidney are the first to be affected and there is also the risk of cardiovascular disease, as well as diseases of the central nervous system. In short, you may develop hypertension and become a candidate for a heart attack. A short term effect of alcohol in the body but no less dangerous is that with the absorption of alcohol in the blood, inhibitions are loosened and this sometimes leads to violence and accidents. In summation, the calories in beer are only one of many things that should concern you if you are a heavy drinker.