Calorie-free vodka claim sobered by facts


7 April 2009
ABC Science Australia


When people talk about food, nutrition, changing body weight and calories, there is a huge chunk of information to absorb.

One of the big issues, at least for some people, is how many calories there are in alcohol.

We can blame part of the confusion on a book, that way back in 1964, sold 2.5 million copies.

That book, enticingly called The Drinking Man's Diet, told us that we could drink alcohol, reduce carbohydrates and lose weight — all at the same time.

Then the low-carb Atkins diet appeared in 1972, and it told us that "low carb meant healthy".

And just recently, ads have been popping up telling us, presumably for our own dietary good, that some alcohols are "low carb" or "no carb".

So, not surprisingly, the myth is rampant that if you really want to enjoy a few drinks but not put on weight, you should drink vodka, because it has no carbs and therefore has no calories.

But while it is true that the word vodka comes from the Russia word voda meaning 'water', it is 100 per cent guaranteed that vodka has more calories than water.

We humans have been brewing and guzzling alcohol for at least 7000 years — but fermentation can get you a maximum alcohol level of only about 15 per cent.

If you want more than 15 per cent, you have to use distillation, which involves gently heating the fermented liquid. Distillation can lift the alcohol content to 50 per cent or higher, and relies on the fact that alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water.

Vodka (which is around 40 to 50 per cent alcohol) probably came from Russia in the 14th century. It is often neutral in taste, with nearly all of the natural flavours of the raw material (such as potatoes) removed during distillation, and no extra flavours added.

So a typical glass of vodka is roughly half water and half alcohol — and definitely contains no carbohydrates.

This is quite different from beer, which does have carbohydrates. And we all know that beer has calories.

So does this mean that because vodka has no carbohydrates, it has no calories?

Well, to understand the answer, you need to know a little biochemistry.

In general, our calories in the food we eat usually come from three types of molecules — fats, proteins and carbohydrates. Fats, proteins and carbohydrates all are made from atoms of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, while proteins have extra nitrogen atoms added.

These three different food molecules share (from the point of view of calories) an important structural feature — they each have carbon atoms joined to each other, and other atoms, by chemical bonds.

There is significant potential energy stored in each of these bonds, because it takes energy to force atoms to link up with each other.

When you eat food, your gut liberates this energy. While fats, proteins and carbohydrates have similar structures, they do have some differences, so they release differing amounts of energy.

It works out that proteins and carbohydrates give you four calories per gram, while fats are more than twice as energy-dense (nine calories per gram).

Now here's the rub — while alcohol is not included in the basic food groups, it still has calories. In fact, it is closer to fat than carbohydrates, with seven calories in each gram.

A shot of vodka (30 grams) has 15 grams of water (zero calories) and 15 grams of alcohol (105 calories).

A glass of wine has five grams of carbohydrates (20 calories) and 13 grams of alcohol (91 calories) giving you a total of 111 calories.

Regular beer has 13 grams of carbohydrates (52 calories) and 14 grams of alcohol (98 calories) giving you 150 calories.

The new 'low-carb' beers are virtually identical to the old 'light' beers — a total of about 100 calories with about 3 grams of carbs (12 calories).

So in general, your standard alcoholic drink carries about 100 to 150 calories — about 5 to 10 per cent of your required daily calorie intake. And there are even more calories if you add sweeteners and creams.

On the other hand, if you have a few vodkas, you probably won't be worrying about the calories. The worry about banging on more weight is quickly dispelled by your increased light-headedness.

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/science/artic.../07/2536403.htm

I don't think they "get it." Its not about calories at all, and fat doesn't make you fat in spite of the fact they like to parrot over amd over "well fat has 9 calories per gram!"

What I noticed is alcohol slowed my already sluggish metabolism down. When I drink (rarely), I drink vodka and soda with lemon. It definitely stalled my weight loss.

Other then the calorie count another reason alcohol stalls your weight loss is do to the fact that it is a poison and the liver will shut down other operations including fat metabolism to process the alcohol and get it out of the blood stream.

What, seriously? It is a rampant myth that no carbs is the same thing as no calories? I've never in my life encountered anyone who thought that. Is it a rampant myth that meat has no calories too?

MMM calorie free lard ...........

Alcohol is not only poison its a fuel used by the body even before sugars, fats or protein. I count it as empty calories and try to eat less if I drink that day. It doesn't always work-- when the effect wears off I often feel ravenous for legal foods or sometimes even carbs if they are available

I also avoid drinking while fasting or breaking a fast with alcohol.

Yeah, I think alcohol has 3 big problems for dieters a) it's empty calories b) it can increase your appetite, and c) it weakens your resolve when you're confronted with foods that aren't on your diet.

I notice the second effect the most; it usually makes me ravenous and I'm not used to that on a keto diet. I was just surprised by the article's claim that a lot of people think alcohol doesn't have any calories.

http://www.forbes.com/2004/04/21/cz_af_0421feat.html




I think the guy who the forbes article may have actually read the book. I always used to get in trouble when I did book reviews without actually reading the book. (Actually, I usually read the book and still fudged the report.)