Hard Seltzer could be exactly what you need if you want to drink without endangering your health. According to its marketing claims, Hard Seltzer is a “healthier” alcoholic beverage that contains fewer calories and a lower alcohol percentage than other drinks.
As inappropriate as it may seem, brands tend to showcase young and healthy people in their ads. Even more, they advertise the beverage by featuring people who drink it in their workout outfits. This doesn’t seem right, does it?
Apparently, consumers are indeed buying this product. Hard Seltzer’s year over year sales increase of 200% speaks volumes about this trend.
But is this beverage healthier indeed? The Prepared Chef takes a closer look at its nutritional breakdown.
Nutrient Content
While the average beer contains 10-15 grams of carbs, Hard Seltzers contain only about 2 grams of carbs, on average. This is why many people who enjoy drinking alcohol but don’t want to lose control over their waistline choose Hard Seltzer. When you think about the tremendous popularity of various diets such as Keto and Paleo, this makes even more sense. All these diets restrict carbs to a minimum and focus on fat burn.
If your calorie intake is what concerns you the most, you may want to know how spiked seltzer compares to other alcoholic beverages. One can of spiked seltzer contains about 100 calories. Almost all other alcoholic drinks contain more calories than that. Vodka tonic, for instance, has about 175 calories. Plain beer has about 150 calories. There are some lighter beers that contain less than 100 calories, but they usually contain more sugar than seltzers.
There are many beverages that contain only 2 grams of sugar or even less. Bon & Viv Spiked Seltzer, for instance, has Black Cherry Rosemary, which is only one example of such drink. This is not the only one, but we are not going to make a full list of them here.
These beverages have a low-ABV, and this makes them even more interesting. They range between 5% and 7%, which is perfectly comparable to any 12-oz local beer.
Here are some nutritional details for some of the most known brands:
• Bon & Viv: Calories 90; Carbs: 2g; Sugars: 0g
• White Claw: Calories 100; Carbs 2g; Sugars: 2g
ª Truly: Calories: 100; Carbs: 1g; Sugars: 1g
Fewer Calories Also Means Fewer Nutrients
A lower number of calories doesn’t necessarily make a product good for you. These vividly colored beverages don’t actually nourish you, so don’t think they are actually healthy.
The first hard seltzer brand on the market, Bon & Viv Spiked Seltzer, contains corn syrup, malted rice, sodium citrate, natural flavors and water. Some other brands use cane sugar instead of corn syrup, but they are pretty similar to one another.
Even though most people believe that spiked seltzer is seltzer with vodka or with some other type of clear alcohol, the truth is that this beverage has gone through a fermentation process to become what you get in a can. The process is similar to the method of fermenting sugars to make beer, with the only difference that this is gluten-free (and therefore suitable for people with celiac disease).
Even sugar-free spiked seltzers contain empty calories that have almost no nutritional value at all. Hard seltzers with fruit juice flavor contain less nutrients than one single serving of that fruit.
Over Consumption
When people think that something is healthy, they usually tend to consume more of it. One drink or two are just fine when socializing. However, over-consumption may lead to binge drinking, and that’s far from being a healthy habit. The limit for binge drinking is of four drinks in women and five drinks in men, over a period of 2-3 hours. Binge drinking increases the risk of various medical conditions, accidents, and even alcohol poisoning. Some of these effects could be lethal.
In conclusion, even though hard seltzer has a lower calorie content, less carbs and also less sugar than many other alcoholic beverages, you shouldn’t consume it in excess. If you want, you can choose your favorite wine and mix three ounces of it with plain seltzer. This beverage tastes great and it is much safer than any other fresh spritzer you can find on the market.
If you’re seeking for an alcoholic beverage with fewer calories and lower carbs content than beer or wine, you’ll be just fine with drinking hard seltzer. Nevertheless, the key is to stick to moderate consumption.
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