What Actually Causes the Beer Belly
While beer itself doesn’t cause fat to jump directly to your tummy, it’s still wise to keep an eye on your calorie consumption while you’re drinking. WebMD notes that any excess calorie consumption is likely to cause you to pack on some extra chub around the middle, and that the beer belly is particularly prevalent in men because they tend to store more fat in the abdominal region.
So, beer may be related to your belly, in that it is very easy to consume a large amount of calories while you’re drinking beer. Although most people don’t register drinks as part of their caloric intake for the day, the average 12-ounce serving of beer contains about 150 calories. Plus, think about the foods you tend to eat when you’re drinking beer – if you’re having a cold one on game day, it’s not likely you’re eating kale chips with it.
Busting Your Beer Belly
Because the infamous beer paunch isn’t just caused by drinking beer, you’ll have to do more than stop drinking beer to get rid of it. And you do want to get rid of it – abdominal fat, more so than weight you carry in your hips or thighs, can cause all sorts of problems, from diabetes to high blood pressure to heart failure.
Of course, the good news is that, as part of a lower-calorie diet and exercise regimen, you can certainly still have a couple of light beers when you go out to the bar or on game day. As long as you enjoy it in moderation, beer on its own will probably not cause you to sprout a beer belly.
Sources:
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19550430
- https://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v57/n10/full/1601678a.html
- https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/truth-about-beer
- https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/the-truth-about-beer-and-your-belly