Swapping half a pint of beer for glass of water daily ‘slashes obesity risk by FIFTH’

SWAPPING half a pint of beer for a glass of water cuts obesity risk by a fifth, a study reveals.

It found making the simple switch daily also left people nearly 1lb lighter four years on.

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Experts claim the technique is an easy way of beating the bulge - and protecting against fat-related illnesses such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Two in three Brits are overweight or obese.

Spanish researchers followed 15,765 adults who were not fat at the start of the study.

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They measured their consumption of 17 different drinks and checked their weight every two years. After eight years, 873 participants were obese.

Experts found drinking one less 330ml serving of beer daily – around a bottle or half a pint - and having water instead reduced the risk of being fat by 20 per cent.

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It also left people 328g lighter.

Ditching a glass of sugary soft drink for water once a day also slashed the risk of becoming dangerously lardy by 15 per cent.

But the researchers found no difference in obesity risk when switching any of the other 15 beverages, including fruit juice, coffee, milk and wine.

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Lead researcher Dr Ujué Fresán, from University of Navarra in Spain, said: “This study found that replacing one sugar-sweetened soda beverage or beer with one serving of water per day at the start of the study was related to a lower incidence of obesity in the case of beer.

“As obesity carries a high risk for the development of other diseases like diabetes or cardiovascular disease, the possible effects of substituting these beverages with water is an important target to consider in future public health research.” The study was presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Porto.

Experts said beer-guzzling Brits are also more likely to gorge on the wrong foods, such as a post-pub kebab.

And there are around 140 calories in a bottle of beer, compared to 80 in a small glass of white wine.

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Dr Paul Christiansen, an obesity researcher from the University of Liverpool, said: “You are taking empty calories out of the diet. Alcohol within itself is incredibly calorific – second only to fat – and beer is an easy way to consume alcohol.

“Beer also has knock-on effect. When people are dieting they check calories in food, but they are less likely to do so for alcoholic drinks.

“People also tend to eat more when they have alcohol, they struggle to control their intake. For example, getting a takeaway on the way home from the pub.

“Nobody goes out saying I really want to eat a kebab. You’ve already had a day’s full amount of calories and a skinful of beer.

“Wine has less calories, so a similar effect is not seen.”