Why do alcoholic beverages have calories?

Short answer: The calories in an alcoholic beverage come from the body's metabolism of the alcohol itself. Yes, our bodies can use alcohol as fuel, just they can use fat or sugar. Actually, they can use vinegar too, and pound for pound, the acetic acid in vinegar has almost as many calories as the ethanol in alcohol. read more

Short answer: The calories in an alcoholic beverage come from the body's metabolism of the alcohol itself. Yes, our bodies can use alcohol as fuel, just they can use fat or sugar. Actually, they can use vinegar too, and pound for pound, the acetic acid in vinegar has almost as many calories as the ethanol in alcohol. read more

Alcohol doesn't have"so many calories" because we drink a concentrated solution of it. The term"concentrated," is relative, after all. Any mass of alcohol (say, one gram) will be burned for more calories than any equal mass of sugar or protein, and will be burned for fewer calories than the same mass of fat. read more

Limit your alcoholic intake to reduce the calories in alcohol. Do not go above 2 per day so you do not add unnecessary alcohol calories to your daily intake. This is hardly a problem for social drinkers and if you find yourself unable to even meet this basic requirement, you might want to take a look at the ten warning signs of alcoholism. read more