A new study released by the University of Victoria claims that daily drinkers can consume up to 25 per cent of their daily caloric needs through alcohol alone.
The study, led by Adam Sherk – a post-doctoral fellow at UVic’s Canadian Institute for Substance Research – looked at just how many calories Canadians are ingesting through alcohol.
On a daily basis, an average drinker consumes 11 per cent (or 250 calories) of their daily estimated energy requirements via alcohol.
“That’s like eating an extra bag of chips every day,” said Sherk in a press release.
According to the release, if someone engages in binge-drinking, or having four or five drinks at a single occasion, that number jumps to about 25 per cent (or 550 calories) of the recommended daily caloric intake – the equivalent of a double cheeseburger with all the fixings.
Alcoholic containers, unlike most other food and beverage packaging, aren’t required to have nutritional labelling. In their study, Sherk and his co-authors are calling for comprehensive labels on alcohol containers, which could also be used to communicate information about other health risks associated with alcohol, such as cancer or stroke and heart disease.
