BitterSweet Blog

By Kristy | Posted: January 18, 2010

If you were tuned into Channel 4 last Thursday night, you might have seen the ladies on My Big Fat Diet Show shocked to find out that there are more calories in orange juice than beer. Many of you will probably find this fact surprising too, I’m sure, and I find the fact that it does come as a surprise very interesting. We live in an increasingly calorie-conscious world, with green, orange and red symbols on the front of  most food packages, telling us about the vital statistics of the food we are about to eat.  But when it comes to eating and drinking out, there is an information drought – and while many women could tell you how many calories are in a slice of cake, many would struggle to tell you how many calories are in half a pint of lager.

Here at BitterSweet Partnership, part of our work is to dispel some of the myths surrounding beer, and one of the biggest factors putting women off beer is the perceived calorie content. 39% of women we surveyed told us that the beer industry needs to reduce the calorie content of beer to make it more appealing to them. If you’re new to our work, you might be surprised to hear that it may already be less calorific than you think – there are more calories in a double gin and tonic, a can of cola or a large glass of wine than there are in a bottle of beer. 16% of women thought of those four drinks, beer would have the most.

At this time of year, when there is a large focus on health and well-being, calorie content becomes more relevant – and as the surprised reaction to the orange juice fact shows, what people think about the content of their food and drink can sometimes be misinformed. It’s funny that in the “Information Age”, we have to seek out information about what we’re eating and drinking. These days, smart food and drink retailers are satisfying an appetite for information – take Pret and Eat as a couple of great examples. They have the details on their websites, as well as in-store, to tell us exactly what we’re eating – meaning that we can make choices that fit in with whatever nutritional goals we have. Hopefully one day we can start to see this as a standard across drinks packaging and on menus too.

What do you think – is calorie content a consideration in choosing your drinks? Would you like to see more information about the calorie content of drinks available in pubs and bars?

Image by niseag03.

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