It’s that time of year when some of us are starting to think about Christmas parties. At a time when many of us drink more alcohol than we do during the rest of the year, do you know the hidden calories in your favourite drinks? Well we thought we would do the research for you!

Drinking any alcohol gives you ‘empty calories’; it contains 7 calories per gram. They provide little or no nutritional benefit, but they can contribute to excess calories and weight gain. Most alcoholic drinks retain traces of vitamins and minerals, but not enough to have any significant value.

You may be surprised to know that a pint of lager can contain similar calories to that found in a large slice of pizza. When this is the case, we need to look more carefully at the calories we will end up consuming after a night out on the town, or even just on the sofa in front of our favourite TV programme!

Alcohol is made from sugar or starch, and that means it contains lots of calories. The other issue is that we can’t store alcohol in our body. Therefore our systems give priority to getting rid of it, rather than focusing on absorbing nutrients and burning fat. This is why alcohol actually reduces the amount of fat your body burns for energy.

Calorie levels do vary, so check out our list below (from drink aware) of the most and least calorific alcoholic drinks.

• Pint of cider (4.5% ABV) – 216 calories

• Pint of beer (4% ABV) – 182 calories

• Bottle of alcopops (275ml @ 4% ABV) – 170 calories

• Standard glass of wine (175ml @ 13% ABV) – 160 calories

• Glass of Champagne (125ml @ 12% ABV) – 89 calorie

• Glass of Spirits (25ml @40% ABV) – 61 calories

And let’s not forget those drinks that come with sugary, fizzy mixers.

• Gin and tonic (25ml measure) – 110 calories

• Vodka and coke (25ml measure) – 110 calories

• Rum and coke (25ml measure) – 150 calorie

Top of the calorie tree are… cocktails!

- Margarita (8oz) – 455 calories
- Cosmopolitan (8oz) – 444 calories

So what are the alternatives? Check out our top 5 tips below.

1. For drinks with mixers, go for diet or sugar free options, such as Coke Zero, and slimline tonic
2. Swap large measures for single or standard glasses.
3. Try to decrease the strength of your pints of beer - rather than 5 or 5.5% go for those beers that are 4% instead.
4. Try Pimms and lemonade, rather than the cocktails at the top of end of our calories chart. A 250ml can contains 160 calories. Or you could try Archers and lemonade, containing 110.
5. Try to cut down on the volume of alcohol you drink on your night out, even if it is only by a couple of drinks - it all makes a big difference!

If you want expert hints, tips and information about keeping healthy whilst indulging in the odd festive social drink, visit drink aware