--- title: Calories in Alcohol and Wine: Should Alcohol List Calories? description: In a new paper, a public health expert argues that all alcoholic beverages should provide calorie count information on their labels. canonical: https://time.com/3838776/calories-in-alcohol-wine/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-28T22:30:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:19.593Z article:section: Health og:title: Should Alcohol Be Forced to List Calories? og:description: In a new paper, a public health expert argues that all alcoholic beverages should provide calorie count information on their labels. og:url: https://time.com/3838776/calories-in-alcohol-wine/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf8f2e0346c045a03/6987ed4c2dce0164019e18a0/513626475-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5760 og:image:height: 3240 og:image:alt: 513626475 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Should Alcohol Be Forced to List Calories? twitter:description: In a new paper, a public health expert argues that all alcoholic beverages should provide calorie count information on their labels. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf8f2e0346c045a03/6987ed4c2dce0164019e18a0/513626475-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Should Alcohol Be Forced to List Calories? > Sponsored content. 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[Watch (HLS stream): Should I Drink Red Wine?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/JLVLyuEq.m3u8) (1:35)  _Published 2015-03-12. Cheers to your health! All five of our experts give red wine a purple-stained smile._ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Apr 28, 2015 10:30 PM UTC  Various bottles of US and international spirits Various bottles of US and international spirits Chris Mellor—Getty Images/Lonely Planet Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Apr 28, 2015 10:30 PM UTC Right now, alcoholic beverages in the U.S. and the European Union aren’t required to spell out what’s in the bottle. But they should be, argues a public health expert in [a new paper](//www.bmj.com/cgi/doi/10.1136/bmj.h2047) calling for calorie counts on all alcoholic beverages. Fiona Sim, chair of the Royal Society for Public Health in the U.K. argues in her paper published in _The BMJ_ that alcoholic beverages should be required to display calorie labels, since alcohol in general plays a contributing role to obesity. Many adults do not know how many calories they are consuming when they drink alcohol, she says. In people who drink regularly, that proportion can be significant: an estimated 10% of their daily calories come from booze. “Most women, for example, do not realize that two large glasses of wine, containing 370 calories, comprise almost a fifth of their daily recommended energy intake, as well as containing more than the recommended daily limit of alcohol units,” Sim writes. “With the insidious increase in the size of wine glasses in bars and restaurants in the past decade, it seems likely that many of us have unwittingly increased the number of ‘invisible’ calories we consume in alcohol.” Sim’s argument is aimed at the U.K., which currently does not require restaurant menus or bottles of alcohol to list their calorie content. The United States does require that calories for alcoholic beverages be listed in restaurants that have 20 or more locations. In the U.S. calories are not required to be listed on the bottle, though manufactures can voluntarily do so. U.S.-based consumer groups have [called on industry players and regulators to include them](http://www.vox.com/2014/11/12/7195573/alcohol-nutrition). Sim says that the calories in alcohol should be treated the same as calories in other foods and beverages. If regulation is not implemented, she says that people in the medical community have a responsibility to set the record straight. “Those of us in clinical practice regularly ask patients about their weight, eating habits, and exercise in the context of primary or secondary prevention, but how many of us routinely ask about their calories from alcohol?” she writes. “It is time that we started.” ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Should you drink red wine? It's your lucky day. All five of our experts give red wine a purple stained smile. A standard pour has 125 calories, so it's lighter than beer and mixed drinks, says Julia Zunpano. And of course it's packed with antioxidants. Alcohol is actually good for you if you drink it moderately. Drinking alcohol is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality compared to drinking too much or drinking not at all says Luigi Ferrucci. Ferrucci. Red wine might be particularly beneficial, but some recent studies suggest that we shouldn't give the famous compound resveratrol all the credit. There's likely not enough of it to make a difference, says resveratrol researcher Juan Carlos Espin. But we do know is that David Katz. Is that drinking habitually but moderately is part of the Mediterranean diet and linked to a long life. Just ask cardiologist James O'Keefe who loves red wine for its ability to lower the risk of coronary artery disease, diabetes, congestive heart failure and stroke. His grandmother Dorothy lived to be be 103, and she enjoyed the happy hour drink every night. The key to a long healthy life, Dorothy O'Keefe used to say, is to not drink too much. 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