I don’t know about you, but when I was in college, I heard countless numbers of urban legends regarding alcohol intake. You name it, I have heard it! I remember my college buddies telling me that for every bottle of beer I drank, I would kill “X” number of brain cells and since they did not grow back, I would be out of luck. The most recent myth I have heard about alcohol is it keeps your body from burning fat for 48 hours. Now don't get me wrong, I wish this were true. I think it would be incentive for everyone to reduce their drinking and help manage their weight.

So what's the real deal with alcohol, and why is it always blamed for the beer belly? A research study done by Sonko and colleagues demonstrated that if alcohol was substituted in the diet of an individual within their caloric needs, there was no overall effect in fat breakdown over a 21-hour period. When alcohol was given to a group of participants in addition to their caloric needs, there was increased fat gain over a 21-hour period. So, alcohol encourages fat gain when consumed in excess of one's energy needs.

Alcohol offers added calories, which are easily converted to fat. Because of how alcohol is metabolized, shifts occur in the body’s ability to generate energy. When consuming alcohol, the cells make fatty acids and glycerol, which are the building blocks of fat. This process is expedited when you consume excess calories. A metabolic shift to producing fat causes the body to store fat in most tissues, including that dreaded beer belly.

My team and I strongly discourage alcohol intake while actively trying to lose weight. Why no alcohol? Research shows when you take a control group that's not drinking while dining and compare them with an experimental group that wines and dines, the wine-and-dine group will consume 300 more calories at a meal. That's not including the excess calories from the alcohol. These studies demonstrate that alcohol's an appetite stimulant.

And, let’s be honest, alcohol also makes you lose your inhibitions, resulting in the possibility of you throwing your good judgment to the wind when it comes to portion control and food choices. As your Physician MythBuster, I recommend no alcohol while actively trying to lose weight, as it both stimulates the appetite and contains a lot of calories (7 calories per gram).