Beer bellies ‘caused by genetics, not by booze’

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London: Cheers! Men it’s time to rejoice, for a new research has revealed that beer bellies are actually caused by genetics -- not by the booze.

A team in Europe has carried out the study and found that although people who drink regularly are more likely to put on weight, they do not necessarily accumulate fat around the abdomen.

The researchers were quoted by the ‘Daily Mail’ as saying: “This analysis showed the empirical basis for the common belief of a beer belly, as we found that beer drinking and waist circumference were positively associated.

“In terms of the beer belly belief, an explanation could be that all the observed beer bellies in the population result from the natural variation in fat patterning and not from the fact of drinking beer.”

For the study, the team monitored 20,000 people—7,876 men and 12,749 women— over a period of eight years. Men who were classed as the heaviest drinkers —regularly consuming two pints of beer a day—put on the most weight. But when the researchers then measured hip-to-waist ratios to establish which drinkers developed a pot belly, the results were randomly spread across all drinking groups. The team concluded that genetic factors dictating how people put on weight were more significant than drinking beer.