This is one of a series of articles answering questions in this POST: 108 Most Asked Questions For Drugstore Marketing Activities
Excellent question. To make a long story short: A serving of alcohol is typically not very high in calories, BUT it is metabolized very differently than our food (90 percent in the liver), which can make weight loss tricky. For example, a light beer is roughly 100 calories and so is a handful of nuts. In terms of calories, this is not much at all, but in terms of metabolism, they vary significantly, partly because you have fiber, protein, and fat in the nut and virtually none of these in beer.
This is why we can’t say a calorie equals a calorie. Think of it this way, an empty calorie food or drink is something you can remove from the diet but still maintain optimal physiological function. Do our bodies need alcohol to survive? No. Candy? No. Soda? No. These are empty calories because they don’t have a purpose. Do we need lean protein to survive? Yes. Fresh produce? Yes. You get the idea…
—-Kylene Bogden, MS, RD, CSSD, LD
Alcohol is listed as 7 kcal/g. Moderate drinkers seem to get those amount of calories from alcohol as if it were any other food, so consumption can lead to weight gain.
However, hard core alcoholics get a lot less, meaning they don’t gain weight even though they consume amazing amounts of alcohol.
The best theory to explain this is that alcohol damages their mitochondria so that oxphos is uncoupled, meaning, the calories are converted to heat rather than ATP.
“Empty calories” is a dumb term do-gooders came up with to promote healthy eating. It means a food high in calories but low in other nutrients such as vitamins and minerals.
—-By Mark Roseman, Biochemistry Professor at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (1979-present)