So it’s the 4th month of the year and the diet you started at the beginning of 2018 is going strong but you just can’t stop craving a drink, is this going to crash your diet?
Most weight loss programs don’t allow drinking even if its a light gin and tonic with a squeeze of lemon.
Dr Xand van Tulleken and Dr Vinood Patel, biochemist at University of Westminster, in the show The Diet Testers which aired on SBS recently investigated the causes of weight gain from alcohol consumption.
They believe that alcohol alters the way our body processes food. They had this to say in the show,
“Alcohol is absorbed by the stomach and goes to the liver,”
“The liver is central to metabolism: carbohydrates, protein and fat metabolism all occurs in the liver. But we don’t have a mechanism for storing alcohol. It’s like a toxin [in our bodies] and it has to be cleared. So then the metabolism of fat and sugars has to wait until we can clear all the alcohol [from our liver] first.” said Dr Patel on The Diet Testers.
Source: https://www.sbs.com.au/food/health/article/2018/03/29/why-booze-such-diet-destroyer
In a flaming experiment Dr Patel demonstrated how alcohol actively inhibits the body from burning calories. He burns cubes of paraffin to represent the body’s metabolic processes. He then examined how it behaved when tasked with metabolising sugar and fat.
Dr Xand said,
“Because fat is so slow to break down, when sugar is added to [the mix to represent carbohydrates], it jumps the metabolism queue and burns first, ahead of the fat,”
“The sugar [in this experiment] burns much more quickly, which is what happens in your body. If you eat a donut you will burn the sugar before you burn the fat.”
Source: https://www.sbs.com.au/food/health/article/2018/03/29/why-booze-such-diet-destroyer
Then Dr Patel introduces alcohol to the experiment in the form of an expensive brandy.
“If we add the alcohol to this, the alcohol burns first of all,”
“So whenever we have a drink with a meal, the alcohol will be metabolised first. Whereas the fat and sugar has to wait until we clear the alcohol from our system.” Dr Patel said.
Source: https://www.sbs.com.au/food/health/article/2018/03/29/why-booze-such-diet-destroyer
The experiment revealed that ordinarily while alcohol is being metabolised, sugar and fat is sitting in your body unused but alcohol interrupts metabolism of sugar and fats and this is what caused weight gain. You can imagine when you drink excessively how extensively the metabolic function is disrupted.
Ultimately the doctors determine that moderation in drinking is the key, combined with a healthy lifestyle. The recommended healthy drinking limit is no more than 2 standard drinks on any day, this is to not only minimise your risk of disease and alcohol related injury, but this can also help you avoid gaining weight.