Does drinking beer make your belly bigger?

In real life, many people cannot do without socializing at dinner and drinking parties. Drinking is inevitable at the dinner table or in KTV, including white wine, beer, foreign wine, red wine, cocktails, etc. Many people feel that since having these social engagements, they have gained a lot of fat on their stomachs, which is the so-called beer belly. In fact, this is not the case. Drinking alcohol will cause you to consume fat and gain weight, but it is also caused by the lack of exercise in life.

In life, many men have increased abdominal fat, which makes them have a protruding belly, which is called a "beer belly" or "general's belly." Generally speaking, the older you are, the more common this phenomenon is.

Is the “beer belly” really entirely due to beer? In fact, the so-called "beer belly" generally means abdominal obesity. Fat accumulation caused by excessive energy intake or insufficient energy consumption can cause abdominal obesity.

There are many reasons for excessive energy intake, such as excessive intake of high-fat foods (such as animal meat, etc.), high-carbohydrate foods (such as cakes, biscuits, etc.), and high-energy meals (such as Western fast food, etc.). Drinking a lot of beer can also lead to excessive energy intake. Beer is generally made from malt or rice as raw materials, with rice, brewer's yeast and brewing water as auxiliary materials, and is made through fermentation. Therefore, beer is also called "liquid bread". Every 100 ml of beer can provide about 33 kcal of energy. A bottle of beer is about 600 ml, which means that drinking a bottle of beer will consume about 198 kcal of energy, which is equivalent to 2 taels of bread or steamed buns, and 4 taels of steamed rice. Moreover, people usually drink alcohol during dinner parties. The food is rich and the dinner time is long, so it is inevitable that they consume too much food and beer, leading to excessive energy intake.

In addition, another cause of abdominal obesity is reduced energy consumption. With the changes in lifestyle and transportation methods of modern people, walking has decreased, screen time and sitting time have increased, and physical activity has decreased, so daily energy expenditure has also decreased, which is also a risk factor for obesity.

The World Health Organization believes that drinking more than 60 grams of alcohol once or more in the past 30 days can be defined as "harmful drinking behavior." Harmful drinking behavior can cause a series of health hazards. In addition to possibly increasing the risk of obesity, it may also cause liver damage, gout, cardiovascular disease and some cancers.

my country has a long history of drinking culture, and having a few drinks is inevitable in many occasions. So, for the sake of health, how much alcohol should we drink? It is recommended that children, adolescents, pregnant women and nursing mothers should not drink alcohol. For adults, the amount of alcohol consumed by men should not exceed 25 grams (equivalent to 750 ml of beer, or 250 ml of wine, or 75 ml of 38% alcohol liquor, or 50 ml of high-proof liquor), and for women, it should not exceed 15 grams.