Low-carb beer slammed as an ‘insidious health risk’
Reported February 14, 2010
Low-carb beer has been branded an “insidious health risk” by a doctor who says it could encourage more drinking and, take note girls, it does little to prevent a beer gut.
Diet conscious drinkers have flocked to beers like Foster’s Pure Blonde and Bluetongue’s Bondi Blonde which make much of their low-carbohydrate credentials, says addiction expert Dr Peter Miller.
But such beers should not be seen as a “healthy alternative” to full strength beer, he said, and if your waistline was the concern then a switch to light beer would be better.
“The recent rapid increase in popularity of low-carbohydrate beers in Australia … may represent an insidious health risk,” Dr Miller said.
“The message should be made explicit – low-carb beers are not a healthy choice.”
The problem, Dr Miller said, was that while the beers had lower carbohydrate levels they delivered almost the same energy load to the body as full strength beer.
Low-carb beers contain around 1.5 grams of carbohydrate per 100ml – about half that found in full strength beer.
But when it comes to overall kilojoules of energy delivered to the body, low-carb is not far short of full strength beer.
Low-carb beers pack about 130 kilojoules of energy per 100ml while full strength beer can range from 150 – 170 kilojoules.
“There is little, if any, difference in either the amount of alcohol or the total energy content of traditional and low-carb beers,” Dr Miller said.
Beers with a lower alcohol content, mid- or low-strength beers, deliver about 100 to 120 kilojoules in energy to the body – below the level of a low-carb beer.
Dr Miller said European authorities had recently moved to stop health-related claims from being used in the marketing of alcoholic drinks, and the Australian government should do the same.
The ill founded perception that low-carb beers were a healthy option could encourage people to drink unhealthy amounts of it, he said.
“Particularly … younger people and especially young women, who are often highly body image conscious as well as others with weight or health problems,” Dr Miller said.
Drinkers were “better off consuming low-strength beers in terms of both alcohol content and energy intake”, he said.
Dr Miller is a NHMRC (National Health and Medical Research Council) Howard Florey Fellow at the School of Psychology, at Deakin University.
He raised his concerns in a letter, written along with colleagues, that is published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Source : AAP