Does Gin and Tonic help you lose weight?

Say wine, snacks or haute cuisine and the gourmands at online food magazine FavorFlav know where to drink, how to eat it and what to cook. This time our cheffies serve you: Does gin and tonic help you lose weight?

Do you still need to grow a bikini body for the upcoming beach season? Has your six-pack turned into a round belly during the lockdown? No worries, according to the website Happy In Shape you lose weight when you drink gin and tonic. That sounds too good to be true.

The bitter taste of gin and tonic suppresses the feeling of hunger, according to scientists from the University of Leuven. ‘First, the bitter taste boosts the hunger hormone,’ says Professor Inge Depoortere, ‘but then the substance affects the contraction of the gastrointestinal tract, causing the stomach to empty more slowly. Result: your stomach stays full.’ Longer feeling satisfied, no cravings, and eating less: there go the kilos. Can it be better?

Metabolism and gin
The fact-checkers from Nu.nl have delved into it. They also cite another study conducted with mice. The test animals that were given gin to drink lost weight. Conclusion of that study: gin stimulates metabolism, and that helps you lose weight.

Mouse loses weight
Unfortunately, the conclusion of the fact-checkers is that the last study is complete nonsense, an April Fool's joke. The study in Leuven was only conducted once, which is insufficient for such far-reaching conclusions. Moreover, no humans were tested in Leuven, only mice, so the results are likely not directly translatable to bar-goers.

Six-pack
Astrid Postma-Smeets, nutrition and health expert affiliated with the Nutrition Center, warns once again: do not drink gin and tonic if you want to lose weight, there are better methods to achieve a six-pack. Unfortunately...