Rather than providing you with a list based on serving size, alcohol content, and specific brands—something you can find on numerous websites that generalize to the point of being unhelpful—let’s make our own generalizations. Simply put, the calories in a glass of wine are your best option if you’re looking to enjoy a drink without serious ramifications for your waistline and beyond.
Why Wine Wins the Calorie Battle
The “beer belly” is not just an idiom but a result of the high calorie content found in nearly all beer. Expect your average 12-ounce mass-produced beer to come in at roughly 150 calories. While this might seem low, who only has one beer? Microbrews or craft beers with higher alcohol contents can pack as many as 200 calories per 12 ounces. Light beer, generally speaking, comes in around 110 calories per serving, but let’s be honest—it tastes awful, if it tastes at all.
One ounce of spirits, again a generalization, without a mixer contains about 70 calories. This includes gin, vodka, rum, whiskey, and other spirits (excluding liqueurs, which typically have twice as many calories). These should not be confused with cocktails, which, when mixed with sodas, syrups, and juices, can exceed 200 calories depending on the mixer and the volume of alcohol that a generous bartender pours. Martinis may be a better bet for your waistline at around 170 calories, though your liver might argue otherwise. Martini drinkers, unlike beer drinkers, rarely have six, and if they do, calories are the least of their short- and long-term problems.
Finally, let’s talk about the caloric content of wine. The calories in a glass of wine are your best bet. If you’re drinking sweet wines instead of 100% dry fermented wines, that might change quickly, and not for the better (nor the flatter stomach). Generally speaking, your average four-ounce glass of wine contains about 75 calories. Champagne, in a much prettier glass, only adds a handful of additional calories. In simple terms, the choice is clear—wine’s calories are negligible in the grand scheme of raising a glass. Better yet?
Drink red wine. While counting calories is important, red wine offers a myriad of additional health benefits due to its antioxidants. At the risk of not seeing your days out as you should, you need to drink more wine—moderately, of course. Empirical evidence shows that red wine, when consumed in moderation, is beneficial to your health. What is moderation? If you’re lucky enough to live in a country with nationalized or socialized health services, moderation is two to three glasses a day. However, if you happen to live in a country that is the most litigious society in the world without such health care, moderation is ONE glass. Sorry.
The Health Benefits of Red Wine
In layman’s terms…
Red and rosé wines are high in antioxidants, which are good because they fight the bad. Specifically, antioxidants slow the oxidation process, wherein reactive particles—known as “free radicals”—attack healthy cells throughout the body, potentially leading to heart disease.
One such antioxidant, resveratrol, is especially beneficial. It’s found in the skins and seeds of red wine grapes in high concentration. Resveratrol is a natural blood thinner, preventing blood cells (platelets) from clumping together like a gang of troublemakers in front of a liquor store. In this metaphor, the trouble is blood clots, which block smaller blood vessels in the heart and brain, staving off oxygen flow. This lack of oxygen is called ischemia, and it’s very bad. Don’t worry about memorizing this medical term, though—when you collapse on the sidewalk clutching your chest, the person calling the ambulance will likely just use “heart attack” to describe the situation. Ischemia in the brain is more commonly known as a stroke. That’s also really bad.
Finally, resveratrol doesn’t much care for low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or bad) cholesterol. LDL causes plaque to form in arteries, leading to hardening and narrowing of the vessels. But don’t worry—resveratrol, along with its antioxidant friend saponin (another compound found in red grapes), teams up to battle LDL. They go on the offensive, preventing LDL from building up, thus protecting you from heart disease.
In addition to the relatively low calories in a glass of wine, drinking wine is simply smart for the health-conscious. Smarter yet? Walk to your favorite wine shop and choose from a variety of health-smart reds.
