So, the drink of the summer of 2019 appears to be spiked seltzer. Part of the sales pitch from the beverage industry is that these drinks are better for you than other forms of alcohol. So we asked Novant Health registered dietitian Andrea Hiatt: are spiked seltzers actually “healthier?” You'll find hundreds of stories like this at HealthyHeadlines. Got an idea for story? Email: healthyheadlines@novanthealth.org.
Transcript:
Roland Wilkerson 0:07
Roland Wilkerson for Novant Health and Healthy Headlines here. So the drink of the summer of 2019 appears to be spiked. So Sir, I just realized There are mountains of this stuff at the grocery store. I just hadn't been paying any attention till we started working on this piece. Part of the sales pitch from the beverage industry is that these drinks are actually better for you than other forms of alcohol. Some of them are even sold in skinny cans to appeal to women. So we had to ask Novant Health Registered Dietitian Andrea Hiatt, our spiked sensors actually, quote unquote healthier. I think her answer might make some of you happy. But she's also got some words of caution. And for those of you who've never tried one, stick around at the end, for one craft beer fan's review.
So we're here today to talk about spike seltzer; what is a spike cells.
Andrea Hiatt 1:01
So these hard sparkling waters are something that they kind of played a spin-off of those Lacroix's and now added the alcohol in them, that a lot of times when they have that alcohol in them, it's not anything that is like a vodka, or you know, any of our liquors that are added to the hard seltzer water, what it is, is it's natural flavorings or different fruit juices that they might add to it and it's fermented. So that's where that alcohol is coming from. A lot of times, but most of them are about four to 5% of our, our alcoholic volume. So pretty much typically to the same point of like a light beer.
Roland Wilkerson 1:45
So um strictly speaking is a 12 ounce spiked seltzer healthier than that a light beer or a glass of wine.
Andrea Hiatt 1:55
So, you know, we talked about healthy, it's like, oh, there's a lot of gray space. There, I wouldn't say that it's necessarily healthy, it could be a better choice for you. So when you take it, take a look at that 12 ounce, hard seltzer, you know, it does have around 100 calories, it is low in sugar, and it is a lower alcohol volume. So you know, if we're having maybe one of these, you know, at a at a family function, or if we're you know, going out for the summertime, that's going to be something fine for us to have, when we look at our Corona lights or Michelob Lights, or Michelob Ultra, those are going to be very similar, that now they could have a little bit higher alcohol content as well. Some people might want that bite of actually tasting the alcohol where the hard sell because you might not taste as well. So, you know, if you compare them, they're kind of similar in some ways. But what really has made it kind of that healthy trend is that they take water, and it's just that water and it spiked. So so people think, Oh, well, I'm staying hydrated when I'm drinking this, but really, alcohol dehydrates you. So either way, whether it's our wine, or beer, or our spike cider, or a spiked seltzer, those are going to be things that will dehydrate us, and we'll need to have more water throughout the day. It is definitely a great thing if somebody is looking to watch their calories, also to watch their sugar content. But like I could say the same thing for those beers as well. The lighter beers, when it comes to wine, wine is going to be a little bit higher in calories and higher in sugar that some people were on kind of that rose a trend back in the day. And that was kind of showing that seems similar where it's a lower calorie a little bit lower in sugar as well, because they were mixing some things. So taking a little bit of the red wine and then mixing it with like a hard seltzer. You could do something like that as well, or just a regular seltzer. So if somebody wanted to, or preferred that, it could be technically as healthy as a, as a hard seltzer. The other thing to look at is the artificial sweeteners in there or artificial flavors, when they say that or when they say natural flavors, we don't really know what they're putting in there. So you know, we can have different additives that might not be natural, even though they say that. So usually, if you can't pronounce it, then it's probably something that's more chemically made than actual, you know, something that we're that we're able to get from the ground or from, from our food itself.
Roland Wilkerson 4:40
So bottom line, it sounds like when it comes to, quote unquote, the health rating of a hard seltzer versus a light beer, they're really about the same, right? And it's a matter of preference,
Andrea Hiatt 4:55
I think so for sure. You know, with with that Michelob Ultra 95 calories, Miller Lite, 96, Corona, light 99. So if you look at most of those spikes ulcers, they're going to be around 100 calories and two grams of carbohydrates very, very similar. It really kind of comes down to the flavor. It also kind of comes down to also gluten free. You know, some people are gluten sensitive. So if they're allergic to gluten, they can't necessarily have beers. But for the most part, a lot of those hard ciders, seltzers are gluten free, you definitely have to check the label. But that is something that for the most part, people who have a gluten sensitivity can enjoy versus the beer.
Roland Wilkerson 5:40
Okay, here's something I've always wondered, does it really matter if you have a drink, that's 100 or 200 calories more than another drink in terms of, let's say, if you're reasonably fit, person who has good control their weight is that extra 100 or 200 calories will the higher calorie drink going to make that much of a difference?
Andrea Hiatt 6:03
I say if you're having it in moderation, it's going to be okay. So whenever I talk to my patients about eating healthy, or talking about maybe an event that they're going to, well, maybe we're planning for that. So maybe during the daytime, we're adding more activity into our daily routine, maybe we're having a lighter breakfast and lunch. So we're, you know, accounting for those extra calories that we might be having in that beverage, you know, there's definitely lighter options that you can do. So say if you wanted a margarita, you can do a lite version of that. Some people prefer to have the actual Margarita and have the the calories and the sugar that come with that. But you know, it just really comes down to moderation. And then also making sure that, that you're accounting for it too. I really like you know, making sure that you're tracking your diet. So if you can make it work within your diet and going over a little bit of your calories, it's going to be okay, as long as you're not doing that on a daily basis. So you see a lot of people that might go away on vacation, and they'll come back and they said, Oh my gosh, I gained a ton of weight. And it might not be that they were eating really any differently. It could be the alcohol that they were taking in. So you know, when we look at that hard seltz...
