How drinking beer may not be the main cause of a 'beer belly'

By EMMA REYNOLDS

Published: | Updated:


Drinking beer is not the main cause of a 'beer belly', although it can contribute to overall fatness, scientists have revealed.

A team from Germany analysed the weight as well as the hip and waist measurements of nearly 20,000 people over four years.

Participants were asked to detail how much beer they drank and what else they consumed each day.

Gut buster: Scientists say that excessive consumption of beer will cause weight gain, but this is not exaggerated in the stomach area

Gut buster: Scientists say that excessive consumption of beer will cause weight gain, but this is not exaggerated in the stomach area

Their beer consumption was placed into a number of categories, from 'very light' to 'heavy'.

The researchers concluded that their study 'does not support the common belief of a site-specific effect of beer on the abdomen, the beer belly'.

'Beer consumption seems to be rather associated with an increase in overall body fatness,' they wrote in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Pint please: Participants were asked to detail how much beer they drank and what else they consumed each day

Pint please: Participants were asked to detail how much beer they drank and what else they consumed each day

Women were placed in four categories from 'no beer' to 'moderate drinkers'. Men were put in five categories from 'no beer' to 'heavy drinkers'.

For women, 'moderate' meant consuming at least 250ml of beer a day. For men, 'moderate' meant 500 to 1000ml a day.

Their estimates were based on the size of a typical bottle of beer in Germany.

A beer belly was defined as one that bulges distinctly as the waist and was proportionally large in comparison to hip measurement and body size.

The scientists - from the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbrücke, Fulda University of Applied Sciences and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden - concluded that beer consumption did lead to a rise in waist size, but that this was closely related to overall weight gain in both men and women.

A study in the Czech Republic, published in 2003 in the same medical journal, went as far as to say that drinking beer by itself does not cause much change in weight.

However, the scientists involved in the German study believe that the Czech research was flawed.

Most watched News videos