We’ve recently launched a campaign to force alcohol companies to display kilojoule information on their labels. While we appreciate the different views on the subject, for those Australians looking to manage their weight, currently it is virtually impossible to know how many kilojoules are in some of our commonly consumed beverages.
We also know that discretionary foods – those that are kilojoule dense but offer little in the way of good nutrition – currently make up an unhealthy 35% of the average Australian’s daily energy intake, and contribute to weight gain and obesity affecting two thirds of Australians. In fact, alcohol is now the leading contributor to Australia’s discretionary kilojoule intake.
For example, did you know that while a can of Coke has 675kJ, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey contains 1069kJ? If you’d like to support our campaign and find out how many kilojoules are in other drinks, take our alcohol knowledge quiz and sign the petition.
I passed that to many people I know over the past day. The overwhelming response is that none are going to change to Pure Blond Ultra Low Carb and that life is about more than kJ sometimes.
May not and probably won’t make them change the drink they drink but it may help them make choices about how many they might consume or how long it takes them to enjoy each one they imbibe. It may even help them diet more effectively when they know the Kj they consume in all food items. Alcohol has been long absent in my diet and so has no bearing on what I may consume but if I did use it I would prefer to know what it adds to my Kj load in a day.
It’s definitely about giving people the option, especially for those actively trying to watch their energy intake. However, we appreciate the sentiment that a lot of people just don’t care when it comes to alcohol.
Nutritional value? Energy makes up part of nutrition. Alcohol may not have any other benefits to our well being but it may have, I keep seeing reports of how it may help the heart etc but whether they hold up is another matter. But anyway what I was trying to get at is that energy consumption such as through sugars and alcohol should have measurement and disclosure.
EDIT: Ahh I’m a butthead missed the wink inference…darn
I am interested in this as well: I contacted several companies selling zero/low alcohol products requesting nutritional data: all responded quite quickly, with a few stating that the information was either on their website/going to be added soon/would be included on their products in the near future.
Sobah, NON, Heaps Normal and Nort were among the businesses I contacted.
I am particularly interested in low carb content, but I am now so used to looking for/reading nutritional labels that I noticed the lack of it on wine, beer, spirits etc.
I agree with
I have moved the posts from your topic to this existing one that covers much of the matters you raise. While it is an older thread on the subject it is still as relevant as previously, you will find many posts agreeing with your view. Thank you for raising the issue again.
While alcohol may provide empty calories, if I chose to consume empty calories, I’d like to know how many I’m consuming. As a consequence of not knowing the make up, I consume very little alcohol.
There are many charts of kilojoules (or calories) for beverages on the web here is one. You could almost certainly find a chart with more detail that, for instance, distinguishes between dry and sweet wine. As others have mentioned many makers will have this data on their web page for their particular products.
I doubt that the particular brand or style of drink that you consume would be much different to the chart examples. For the error to matter to your total caloric intake you would probably have to consume more drinks per day than is recommended.
If you are concerned about carbs the not so good is beer being described by some as liquid bread. Some beers do provide product labelling that is easy to follow.
Signed the petition
