That's how unhealthy Radler is

1. Suddenly this fresh lemon beer popped up on every terrace. Radler is very popular, but its sweet taste suggests that it is a real sugar bomb. Is that right? That's how (un) healthy Radler is.

1. Radler is not a brand, but a kind of beer. It is said to be named after Fahrradler, the German word for cycling tourists. Traditionally it is a mix of half beer and half lemonade.

Invention

1. There are several stories about how it was invented. For example, a German innkeeper would have mixed lemonade through the beer because he ran out of beer supplies while his terrace was full of cyclists. Or he added lemonade to the beer to serve an extra refreshing drink to thirsty cyclists. Whatever is true, Radler has been available in Germany since the 1920s. In 2013 it was also introduced in the Netherlands and Belgium. It is now very popular and there are also variants with other fruit flavors, such as grapefruit, mandarin, lime and mint.

Ingredients

1. Various beer brands have released a Radler beer. Each brand is slightly different, but the label usually contains the following ingredients: (carbonated) water, malted barley, hops, sugar, fruit juice from concentrate, lemon extract and aromas. Fruit juice from concentrate means that first the water has been removed from the juice and that water has been added later. This means that the producer does not have to transport all that water. There is not only lemon juice in the Radlers, but also orange juice, lime juice and acerola juice. All that fruit juice may sound healthy, but it's certainly not the same as fruit. It does not contain the healthy fiber found in the whole fruit and the sugar content is high.

How much sugar does Radler contain?

1. Some Radlers have a low alcohol content of 2 percent, others are completely alcohol-free. One gram of alcohol provides 7 kilocalories. Because there is a lot less alcohol in Radler than in a regular beer, you would expect that it also contains fewer calories. However, Radler's sweet taste makes you fear the worst in terms of calories. Is it indeed a sugar bomb? The number of calories and grams of carbohydrates and sugars of a number of Radler brands per 100 milliliters (and for comparison the same nutritional values ​​of regular beer): Brand Amstel Radler 2 percent Amstel Radler 0.0 percent Wieckse Radler 2 percent Wieckse Radler 0 percent Grolsch 2 percent Grolsch 0 percent Pils (Amstel) Kcal per 100 ml 43 39 40 35 39 35 40 Grams of carbohydrates per 100 ml 7.7 grams 9.7 7.9 8.8 6.5 8.5 2.5 Of which sugars 5.8 8.6 5.6 7.8 5.7 6 0.4 A As you can see, a large scoop of sugar is added to the lemon beer. One bottle contains about 300 milliliters, making a bottle of Radler good for 16.8 to 25.8 grams of sugar, or almost four to six sugar cubes (depending on which brand you drink). Regular beer and the lemon beer contain about the same amount of calories.

Healthier thirst-quenchers

1. To quench your thirst, it is of course better to drink water than Radler or any other alcoholic drink. Alcohol contains so-called empty calories: you do not get healthy nutrients, but unnoticed it stores the necessary calories. Moreover, there is a great temptation to snack on something tasty (and unhealthy) with a beer and there is quite a bit of sugar in Radler. In short, it is not a drink for every day.

2. To quench your thirst, it is of course better to drink water than Radler or any other alcoholic drink. Alcohol contains so-called empty calories: you do not get healthy nutrients, but unnoticed it stores the necessary calories. Moreover, the temptation is great to snack on something tasty (and unhealthy) with a beer and there is quite a bit of sugar in Radler. In short, it is not a drink for every day.