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What you should know about alcopops...

 

They're loaded with calories

Brand

Calories

(per 12 oz)

Smirnoff Ice

228

Bacardi Silver

225
Bacardi Silver Raz 225
Bacardi Silver O3 225
Bacardi Silver Limón 225
Skyy Blue 235
Henry's Hard Lemonade 315
Jack Daniel's Hard Cola 232
Mike's Hard Lemonade 220

Mike's Hard Cranberry Lemonade

 222

 

...More calories than you'd think

Alcopops contain more calories than many high-calorie foods and drink.

 

Alcopop Calories
Smirnoff Ice 228
Bacardi Silver 225
Skyy Blue 277
  Product Calories
  12 oz Regular Beer 145
  12 oz can Cola 150
  1  Hostess Twinkie 150
  1 Krispy Kreme glazed donut 200
  1 package chocolate-covered malt balls 180

 

Two out of three Americans say they're surprised that an alcopop has more calories than a Krispy Kreme donut.  Most Americans are also clueless about alcopop calorie content and think they have fewer calories than they really have.  By wide margins, Americans think that alcopops like Smirnoff Ice, Bacardi Silver, and Skyy Blue are more like liquor than beer, even though they contain no vodka or rum.

 

College social norm campaigns across the country typically say that most students stop at three or four drinks or less when they party.  However, downing five is not unusual in an evening, and if they're alcopops, that means 1150 to 1375 calories...more calories than a Big Mac and a large order of fries (1130) or two slices of Domino's Deep Dish Meatzza (910).  Drinking like that won't help you look buff on the beach during Spring Break.

 

In case you haven't heard, fat is a big problem

In early March, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that obesity is fast becoming the leading cause of death in the United States.

  • Poor diet and physical inactivity accounted for 400,000 deaths in 2000.1

  • Some health risks include:  high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, coronary heart disease (CHD), Type 2 diabetes, stroke, osteoarthritis, respiratory problems, some cancers.2

  • In 1998, economic costs associated with obesity exceeded $78.5 billion ($92.6 billion in 2002 dollars).3

  • Besides, you may not feel so good lugging that extra baggage around.

Getting the facts would help

Many Americans say they would modify their behavior and drink fewer alcopops and less alcohol in total if they were aware of the high calorie content of alcopops.  Three in five say that people would make better decisions if alcohol products provided calorie information.

 

Nine in ten Americans support calorie labeling of alcoholic beverages because they believe that such information will help consumers make better choices about their drinking.

 

Find out more about alcopops and calories:

POLL SUMMARY [PDF] | DETAILED TABLES [PDF]

 

Find out how alcopops target underage drinkers.

 

In December 2003, the National Consumers League (NCL) and CSPI petitioned the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) to require "Alcohol Facts" labels on every alcoholic-beverage container.

 

 

References:

1.  Mokdad, A.H., Marks, J.S., Stroup, D.F. & Gerberding, J.L. (2004).  Actual causes of death in the United States, 2000.  JAMA.  291(10):1238-1246.

2.  CDC fact sheet.

3.  Finkelstein, E.A., Fiebelkorn, I.C. & Wang, G. (2004).  State-Level Estimates of Annual Medical Expenditures Attributable to Obesity.  Obesity Research.  12(1):18–24.

 

 

Click here to see CSPI's Press Release

 

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