Folks who want to enjoy a nice, cold brew and still maintain a healthy diet have a good friend: low-carb beer. Despite what you might guess from witnessing certain new product launches and advertising campaigns, low-carb beer is nothing new. In fact, all light beers are low-carb; just recently have brewers started so vigorously publicizing that fact.



The recent popularity of low-carb diets put a new focus on carbohydrates in foods. In an effort to capitalize on this situation, dozens of books have been published touting everything from easy, low carb-recipes to how to find a good low-carb friend and live the low-carb lifestyle.

Even people not on low-carb diets find themselves distinguishing between ?good? and ?bad? carbs and making their food choices accordingly. Dieters find themselves on the hunt for alternative foods, like low-carb meat loaf and low-carb beer.

Fortunately, sacrificing good beer in the name of carb-counting is unnecessary. Much of the information circulating about carbohydrates in beer is misleading.

Many people, even those on weight-loss and low-carb diets, enjoy beer regularly. Beer, like most other beverages, contains no fat. Light beer, in particular, is low in calories and carbohydrates. New low-carb beers, capitalizing on the terminology of the day, have been put to market in response to the new dieting trend, and often contain even less carbohydrates than light beer.

To discuss one of the more common misconceptions about low-carb beers, we're going to get technical for a minute.

In the brewing process, maltose is created when the barley malt is first cooked. Maltose is a sugar, a carbohydrate. During the fermentation process, yeast naturally consumes the maltose and converts it to alcohol and carbonation. Therefore, most beers ultimately contain little or no maltose.

Many diet guides and books designate foods as ?good? or ?bad? based solely on their glycemic index. The glycemic index measures how fast and much a specific food increases blood sugar. Many diet book authors say beer's glycemic index is high, but this is based on the mistaken belief that beer contains high levels of maltose or sugar.

Beer, whether it be regular, light or low-carb beer, is so low in carbs that it is difficult to accurately measure the glycemic index. No glycemic index for beer has been published. While the glycemic index can be a helpful way to begin to understand a food's nutritional value, the index alone is unreliable for choosing foods that fit a successful and healthy diet. It does not account for variable such as serving sizes and the effects of different combinations of foods.

When it comes to dieting and weight loss, the ?beer belly? is often mentioned, but no such thing actually exists. Consuming too many calories and not exercising enough will cause excess fat to develop in any part of the body, determined mainly by gender and genetics; for the most part, beer is irrelevant.

Most doctors agree the keys to weight loss are moderate food and beverage intake and regular exercise. Whether you're on a low-carb, low-fat, low-calorie or some other type of diet, beer ? especially low-carb beer ? can be part of a healthy adult lifestyle.