Alcohol

[rdhdfmn]

Does alcohol really affect weight loss that much?

 

[Enock]

7cals per gram of alcohol, its an empty calorie.
It somehow slows down metabolism a bit.

 

[AnabolicDiabetic]

Yes, and they are empty calories too- no nutritional value.

 

[alambrose]

not that simple...

Yes, alcohol does have a bit less than 7 cal. / gm, and yes they are empty calories. But the question of how the body uses those calories are still debated.

I always wondered why alcohol is not listed on nutrition information labels along with fat, protein, & carbs. I did a search on alcohol and found that researchers still debate the calorie effect, because although alcohol has about 7cal. gm, some argue that this is completely offset by the rise in body temperature created by alcohol.

I for one can state from experience that there have been many nights that I've had to have a fan blowing directly on me in order to get to sleep because a night of heavy drinking left me feeling hot & sweaty.

 

[rdhdfmn]

fat loss

How does it affect fat loss? Or does it?

 

[nacius]

Since you drink for pleasure, not to fill a hunger in your stomach.... this is what I think:

Alcohol = extra calories = hinder weight loss (slow down)

 

[Welsh power house]

alcohol lowers testosterone for 72 hours....more eosterone=more fat

 

[Liberator]

I read somewhere that alcohol slows down your metabolism by 35%, so even if you fit it into your calories, its still going to do you no good.

 

[riskybiz007]

how alcohol may play a part in fat metabolism is that Alcohol may bring you in a hypoglycemic state (like insulin or ALA). Diabetic patients CAN drink limited amounts of beer to help lower their glucose.

 

[MS]

As alambrose hinted it is not simple question. Excess alcohol is clearly not good for anyone. However there is enough research that indicates that many of the excees alcohol calories are burned off as heat. There are plenty of very thin alcoholics sleeping on park benches to verify this observation