Americans get almost as many calories from alcohol as from soft drinks, according to a recently-released government study.
The study, based on interviews with more than 11,000 U.S. adults from 2007 to 2010, showed that alcoholic beverages made up about 5 percent of calories consumed by adults on average, compared to the 6 percent of calories consisting of soda and other soft drinks, according to a recent article on latino.foxnews.com.
Researchers found that:
- One-third of men and one-fifth of women consumed calories from beer, wine or liquor.
- The average man drinks 150 calories from alcohol each day, or the equivalent of a can of Budweiser.
- The average woman drinks about 50 calories, or about half a glass of wine.
- Men mostly drink beer. There was no clear favorite alcoholic beverages among women.
- There was no racial or ethnic difference in average calories consumed from alcoholic beverages. However, younger adults were found to drink more.
For reference, a 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola has 140 calories, which is slightly less than a same-sized can of regular Bud. A 5-ounce glass of wine is around 100 calories.
New York City health department officials created controversy when they approved a measure to clamp down on large soft drinks in September, targeting drinks bigger than 16 ounces, or half a liter. The regulation will take effect in March and ban sales of bigger drinks at restaurants, cafeterias and concession stands, but there is no about passing a similar ban on large alcoholic drinks.