Your glass of wine may have more sugar in it than you think

Adapted from BMJ 19 Feb 2022

The Alcohol Health Alliance UK has called for better labelling on alcoholic drinks after an analysis found that wine from the ten leading brands contained as much as 59g of free sugars per bottle.

None of the bottles had the sugar content on the label.

Government guidelines recommend no more than 30g of free sugars a day for an adult (My comment: they conveniently forget about starch though!) This is equivalent to 6 teaspoons of sugar and it can be contained in just two medium glasses of wine.

In February at the Low Carb USA conference in La Boca, Florida, Gemma Kochis, who is a qualified Sommelier, who works at Keto-Mojo, presented information for those on a ketogenic diet who would still like to drink wine.

She says that for the most part, wines with the highest alcohol content will tend to have the highest sugar content. If you want to drink wine and stay in ketosis, you will need to test your blood ketones about 2 hours after trying a new wine.

In general she recommends wines that grown in cooler climates, mainly old world compared to new world. She thinks that you have to stick below 12.5% alcohol wines and that even then you may have to go lower.

Red wines that can be fruity and have a low alcohol content include Beaujolais and Gamay.

Reisling, Vinho Verde and Muscadet are good white wine choices and Champagne Brut is a good sparkling wine choice.