Labatt's new beer light on carbs

Vito Pilieci, The Ottawa Citizen

Tuesday, November 25, 2003

For the health-conscious, Labatt's Sterling beer comes with only 2.5 grams of carbs.

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Labatt Breweries is releasing a beer that it claims will deliver the taste of a light ale, but provide less than half of the carbohydrates.

"This is our early holiday gift to beer drinkers," said Nigel Miller, a spokesman for Labatt Breweries of Canada. "We're launching Labatt Sterling to appeal to the growing number of people who are looking for a beer that fits their lifestyle."

The lifestyle that Miller speaks of is the growing number of Canadians who are adopting new methods of controlling weight gain, such as the popular Atkins diet, the Zone diet or the Sugar Busters diet.

These restrict the amount of carbohydrates that a person eats daily. This means that breads, cereals, certain vegetables, sugar and even beer must be cut back dramatically.

Labatt's new Sterling beer has only 2.5 grams of carbohydrates per bottle, about 75 per cent less than a regular beer and half of those found in a light beer.

Each bottle has 88 calories, as compared to 145 calories in a regular beer and 110 in a light beer.

The company isn't the first to release a carbohydrate conscious brew, Sleeman Breweries Ltd., has been marketing a similar beer called Sleeman Clear which also contains only 2.5 grams of carbohydrates per bottle.

Miller would not say how the carbohydrate level of the beer is lowered. But, he said it is not at the expense of the beer's alcohol content, which is four per cent, the same as a regular light beer.

He said Labatt has been working on the new beer for more than a year.

But Marketa Graham, a dietician in the prevention and rehabilitation centre of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, said people watching their weight should be wary of the new movement toward low-carbohydrate beers.

"I think it's just a marketing gimmick," she said.

Graham said that while the carbohydrate level may be lower in beers such as Sleeman Clear, or Labatt Sterling, each of the beers still contain about 90 calories per bottle. A regular light beer contains about 110 calories per bottle.

"The [calorie] difference between the two is like eating a quarter of an apple," she said. "If you are trying to watch your weight, you shouldn't be having more than two drinks per day anyways, it's just empty calories."