Nutrition facts
Calories in a beer
Beer is the only line in this set where part of the energy comes from neither carbohydrate, nor fat, nor protein. It comes from the alcohol.
What a real portion weighs
The Anses table gives values per 100 grams, and 100 grams is not a portion anybody serves. Here are the same values, applied to the portions as they turn up. Weights are in grams, the unit the table is built on. For a quick conversion: 1 oz is about 28 g, and 1 lb is about 454 g.
| Portion | Weight | Energy | Protein | Carbs | Fat | Fiber |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A 25 cl glass · what a French bar serves as a demi | 250 g | 98 kcal | 1 g | 7.8 g | 0 g | 0 g |
| A 50 cl glass · what a French bar calls a pinte | 500 g | 195 kcal | 2 g | 15.6 g | 0 g | 0 g |
| A can · 33 cl | 330 g | 129 kcal | 1.3 g | 10.3 g | 0 g | 0 g |
| The Ciqual reference · regular beer, 4 to 5% alcohol | 100 g | 39 kcal | 0.4 g | 3.1 g | 0 g | 0 g |
Where these weights come from. Volumes are converted to grams at one gram per milliliter. Beer is slightly denser than water, the gap stays under one percent, and it is smaller than the variation from one glass to the next. The two glasses above are French bar measures and not pints: a UK pint holds 568 ml and a US pint 473 ml, so neither matches the 50 cl poured here.
Composition per 100 grams
Beer, regular (4-5° alcohol)
- Energy
- 39 kcal
- Protein
- 0.4 g
- Carbohydrate
- 3.1 g
- of which sugars
- 0.1 g
- Fat
- 0 g
- Fiber
- 0 g
- Sodium
- 2 mg
What a table of values does not say
- Alcohol carries 7 kcal per gram, between carbohydrate and fat. That is why the macronutrients shown do not add back up to the energy of this line.
- The alcohol content commands almost everything: the table separates low-alcohol beers, those at 4 to 5 degrees, and strong ones above 8.
- A 50 cl glass is two 25 cl glasses. That is arithmetic, and it is still where estimates slip most often in the drinks category.
What comes after the number
How much to eat in a day
A portion means nothing without the day that holds it. A calorie need is worked out from height, weight, age and activity level, then split into protein, carbohydrate and fat.
Calorie calculatorWhere body build sits
Body mass index, the full WHO classification, and the weight range matching a normal build for a given height.
BMI calculatorNeighboring pages
An average weight is an estimate. A photo is not.
In Zemiam, a photo of the meal is enough to log the real portion, with the composition of this same table rather than a guessed figure.
Where the values come from
The composition comes from the Anses Ciqual table: Anses. 2025. Table de composition nutritionnelle des aliments Ciqual, published under Licence Ouverte 2.0. The per-100 g values are reproduced without being altered; the per-portion values are those same values multiplied by a weight, and that weight is not an Anses figure.
The same page in French: Calories d'une bière.