Two glasses of wine may have more calories than a hamburger
- Two glasses of some wines contain more than the recommended daily limit of sugar and more calories than a hamburger.
- However, alcohol is exempt from food and drink labeling rules, so consumers are mostly unaware of calorie and sugar loads.
- Health experts are pushing for clear nutritional labeling on alcoholic products to help reduce sugar and alcohol consumption.
The Alcohol Health Alliance UK (AHA), representing over 60 health organizations, recently commissioned an independent laboratory to test 30 bottles of red, rose, white, sparkling, and fruit wines sold in the United Kingdom for sugar content.
The resulting analysis, which appears on the AHA’s website, revealed a “wide variation of sugar and calories between products.”
The report noted that two glasses of some wines can exceed the daily recommended sugar amount, but most alcohol labels do not share this information.
Suppressing such details may lead consumers to imbibe extra calories and sugar unknowingly, health experts warn.
Foods and nonalcoholic beverages are subject to stringent nutritional labeling standards. These rules make calorie and sugar information readily available to consumers.
Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, chair of the AHA, calls the exception with alcohol “absurd”:
“[T]his information is not required when it comes to alcohol — a product not just fueling obesity but with widespread health harms and linked to seven types of cancer.”
For Alison Douglas, Chief Executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, product labeling on alcoholic beverages is “woefully inadequate, when alcohol claims 70 lives a day in the U.K.
Medical News Today asked Holly Gabriel, RNutr, nutrition manager at Action on Sugar in the U.K., about this labeling dilemma. Gabriel contributed to the AHA report.
In an exclusive interview, Gabriel commented:
“[D]ue to the lack of labeling and lack of awareness about sugar content of alcoholic drinks, there is less scrutiny for manufacturers. In the U.K., we have a soft drinks industry levy [that] completely excludes alcoholic drinks and alcohol replacements such as dealcoholized wine. It is impossible for consumers to make an informed choice when they don’t have the full nutrition information on ingredients.”
Study contributor Gemma Crompton, policy and public affairs manager at Alcohol Focus Scotland (AFS), also told MNT:
“Unlike food and nonalcoholic drinks, alcoholic drinks are only required to display the volume and strength (in ABV) and common allergens. Information on nutritional values — including calories and sugar content — ingredients, or health warnings is not required and is therefore largely absent from labels. Instead, the U.K. government relies on voluntary action from the alcohol industry.”
