Calories from alcohol are “empty calories”, they have no nutritional value.

Alcoholic drinks are made by fermenting and distilling natural starch and sugar

Being high in sugar means alcohol contains lots of calories – seven calories a gram in fact, almost as many as pure fat!

Calories from alcohol are “empty calories”, they have no nutritional value. Most alcoholic drinks contains traces of vitamins and minerals, but not usually in amounts that make any significant difference to our diet.

Drinking alcohol also reduces the amount of fat your body burns for energy. While we can store nutrients, protein, carbohydrates, and fat in our bodies, we can’t store alcohol. So our systems want to get rid of it, and doing so takes priority. All of the other processes that should be taking place ( including absorbing nutrients and burning fat) are interrupted.

With a pint of lager containing the same amount of calories as a slice of pizza, the calories soon add up

A pint of Heineken, 5% alcohol has 227 calories

A large glass of red wine, 13% alcohol has 170 calories

A Jack Daniels, 40% alcohol has 111 calories

Source: Drinkaware.co.uk

 

Scientists have found alcohol can increase the risk of cancer by snapping DNA

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Scientists have found alcohol can increase the risk of cancer by snapping DNA

A new study by the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge University in the UK, commissioned by Cancer Research UK, discovered that when the body processes alcohol it producers a chemical called acetaldehyde, which is harmful to DNA.

The researchers found that acetaldehyde snaps the DNA of stem cells – a type of cell that supplies the many different specialised cells our bodies are made of – which can eventually lead to cell mutations.

To analyse the effect acetaldehyde might cause to stem cells’ DNA, the scientists looked at mice cells that didn’t have acetaldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDH) enzymes, which stop acetaldehyde building up by converting it to acetate, which cells use as a source of energy.

They gave the mice diluted ethanol, the purest form of alcohol, and used techniques to see the DNA inside the cells and read its code.

Professor Ketan Patel, who lead the team of researchers, said: “We saw huge amounts of DNA damage in these cells. Bits of DNA were deleted, bits were broken and we even saw parts of chromosomes being moved about and rearranged.

“Our work definitely shows that external factors, like drinking alcohol, can damage DNA in blood stem cells, meaning it could also damage DNA in other types of stem cells.

“While we didn’t look at whether these mice got cancer or not, previous studies have shown that the type of DNA damage we saw in these mice can considerably increase the risk of cancer.”

As a result, Cancer Research UK urged consumers to reduce their alcohol intake. Cancer is linked to seven types of cancer: liver, breast, bowel, upper throat, mouth, oesophageal and larynx.