Chuganooga

The Chattanooga Times Free Press has an opinion article which posits that alcohol should have calorie counts. Check out the full Times editorial here, or read it below:

It’s Super Bowl week, a time when even individuals who generally care little about pro football — or other sports, for that matter — prepare to watch Sunday’s pro football championship game. For many, the game is the top sports event of the year. Others claim they care only about the commercials, or that they watch because the event has become a major social event. Some frankly admit it is a good excuse to eat and drink. If the latter is the case, be warned. Mindless consumption of typical Super Bowl fare can pack on the pounds.

The calories contained in popular finger-foods and accompanying drinks can be enormous, though not always obvious. A potato chip, or a handful of chips, might not rock the caloric-intake scale, but the continual intake of the chips over the course of a party can add up to dangerous levels. The same is true of many other foods. The calorie intake, though, shouldn’t be a surprise.

For those who care to look — and people should before they start snacking — a nutritional label on the side of the bag or container provides a calorie amount along with information about nutrients, additives and other substances contained in each serving. In other words, information about calories in foods is available for those who want to know it.

That’s not true of alcoholic beverages, a staple of many Super Bowl and other party-food menus. Alcohol, for the most part, is exempt from nutritional labeling requirements. That’s a disservice to consumers who might not know, or forget, that beer, wine, liquor and mixed drinks are full of calories.

Beer, for example, can range from 95 calories to more than 200 per 12-ounce bottle. Wine, depending on variety, ranges from about 65 to 160 calories for a traditional pour. Liquor has a caloric wallop, too. A 1.5 ounce drink of gin, vodka or rum has between 90 and 125 calories. The higher the proof, the higher the number of calories. Since many people have more than a single drink at a party, the calories in them added to those from food can quickly reach an unhealthy total.

There might be a partial antidote to unknowing consumption of alcohol-related calories on the horizon. The federal Tax and Trade Bureau, which oversees alcohol sales, is considering a proposal that would require alcoholic beverage manufacturers to put nutritional data on cans and bottles. That’s a sound idea. Currently, individuals who want calorie information about the alcoholic drinks they consume have no ready source of information.

Some manufacturers say they will abide by the proposed labeling rules if they become law. Others, predictably, are opposed. Their opposition is self-serving. The cost to provide nutritional data would be negligible. The service the updated labels would provide to calorie-conscious consumers would be immense.