Don't drink yourself to fatness

Some foods automatically trigger alarm bells when we're counting calories. Just as it becomes second nature for chimpanzees to avoid the most brightly coloured snakes and treefrogs, we understand almost instinctively the dangers lurking in cream cakes, buns and biscuits.

But when it comes to booze, most of us develop a bit of a blind-spot. You might decline a second slice of chocolate cake, but would you spot the calorific perils in "just a quick one for the road"?

Did you know that, after fat, which contains nine calories per gram, alcohol - at seven calories per gram - is the next most fattening substance we consume, ahead of protein with four calories and carbohydrates with 3.75 calories per gram?

Which is all the more worrying when you consider the huge increase in heavy drinking among women aged 18-24. Whereas the national average for women is only 6.4 units a week, this group is consuming way beyond the recommended 2-3 units a day limit - a phenomenon blamed on the "ladette" culture of the late Nineties. One in four men, meanwhile, drink more than double their recommended limit (3-4 units a day) and there is particular concern about binge-drinking on Fridays and Saturdays.

You can see why Weight Watchers expects its new low-calorie Riesling, with almost half the level of alcohol of a normal wine, to be a huge hit this summer.

In fact, wine strengths have been creeping upwards over the past decade. This is because of a tendency towards later grape-picking and because grapes can reach epic levels of ripeness in hot-climate New World wine regions such as Chile and Australia. The riper the grapes, the higher the sugar content which is converted into alcohol through fermentation. Which means more calories to spread liberally across your stomach, jowls, bottom and thighs.

As if this wasn't bad enough, the calories in alcohol are "empty calories", meaning they provide energy but nothing else - no vitamins, no minerals and no fibre. "Empty calories" can even lead to feelings of hunger as they produce a swift rise in blood-sugar levels, followed by an equally sudden drop, and it's this blood-sugar rollercoaster ride that can lead to cravings for fatty foods. Wine, in particular, helps to stimulate appetite by encouraging gastric secretion (it makes you dribble).

Alcohol, the Nemesis of the calorifically challenged, has no taste of its own, though its viscosity affects the "mouth-feel" of a wine. It's the equivalent of the marbling that runs through a steak, adding body, creating power and giving an impression of sweetness. This is why "no or low-alcohol" wines tend to be dismal imitations of the real thing. It's because they all seem to have a big hole in the middle that they are dismissed, ironically, as "doughnut wines".

Our chart here might help to encourage you to drink a little less this summer - and through the World Cup. By visualising the food equivalents, you may think twice before ordering that lunchtime pint of beer.

The shocking stats in full
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