Diageo focuses on nutrition on revamped website

In an effort to further its commitment to giving consumers greater transparency and help them make informed choices about alcohol, the drinks company has enhanced nutrition, calorie and alcohol content information on all of its brands.

Building on its global commitment in March 2015 to voluntarily provide more extensive information on its products, Diageo will include a breakdown of calories, carbohydrates and protein as well as detailing saturated fat, sugar, caffeine and sodium content per standardised serving.

Along with this, the mobile-friendly website will offer low-calorie drinks suggestions, responsible drinking tips and a 'Drinks Calculator', which will allow users to chart their alcohol and calorie intake.

Diageo's alcohol-in-society director Carolyn Panzer said: "As people become more interested in their diet and lifestyle choices, we need to play our part.

"We know that consumers want nutritional information about what they drink – just as they do with the foods they eat; they also want a clear and easy way to know how much alcohol they are drinking.

"We believe passionately in helping people to understand what's in their drink and to make informed choices about drinking or not drinking. Alcohol is alcohol. There is no drink of moderation – only a practice of moderation."

The truth behind common myths around alcohol consumption is one area that the site covers in detail, including:

• Spirits contain more alcohol than beer and wine -​ 25ml of distilled spirits (eg, Smirnoff, Tanqueray) contains one unit of alcohol, as opposed to more than two units in a pint of lager. Spirits also have fewer calories than wine or beer with 25ml of distilled spirits containing approximately 55 calories compared to 125 calories in an average 175ml glass of wine or around 160 calories in a pint of lager.
• Eating food means I can drink more - ​eating food only slows down how quickly alcohol is absorbed and does not prevent it from having an effect on the body.
• Drinking coffee sobers people up faster - ​coffee might make people feel more awake but the alcohol still remains in the body and takes about one hour per drink to process.