Researchers from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in the United States have found a link between an unhealthy diet and alcohol, after verifying that people tend to consume more fat and calories when they drink alcoholic beverages . As Rosalind Breslow and her colleagues have just published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition , analyzing data from a study conducted with data from 1,800 individuals collected between 2003 and 2008, they have found that on the days that they do not drink alcohol, men tend to consume approximately 2,400 calories, and women around 1,700 calories.
However, when they consume alcohol they choose higher calorie foods, adding up to 400 more calories a day to the diet. And not only does the number of calories vary, since according to the data we ingest 9 percent more fat on the days we drink wine and beer , while we drink less milk.
According to Breslow, there are several possible explanations for this behavior: that social events where drinks are served tend to include less healthy foods, or that people are more impulsive when they drink and therefore "allow" themselves to eat more fat and sweets than usual.
