I have found on of the main reasons someone switches or tries a non alcoholic beer (apart from the no alcohol), is the added health benefits. A large part of this is the better nutrition profile and lower calorie count.
Is Heineken 0.0 low in calories or is it just packed with carbohydrate and added sugar instead?
Heineken 0.0 is a low calorie, alcohol free beer. It has 50% less calories than regular Heineken at only 21kcal per 100ml or 105kcal per pint. In general, non alcoholic and alcohol free beers are lower in calories than alcoholic beers but some alcohol free beers have significant added sugar.
How many calories are in Heineken 0.0?
The headline act, so to speak, in the nutrition profile is usually the total calorie count . It can come in various forms depending on the bottle or can size or where you search for the information.
You need to compare like to like in terms of volume so ive included the calorie count for various volumes in the table below.
In general i like to use calories (kcal) per 100ml as i can apply it to every beer and i am now used to looking at it. I know quickly if a calorie number is high or low for it’s value per 100ml.
| Amount | Calories in kcal |
| 100ml | 21 |
| 500ml | 105 |
| 1 Pint | 119 |
| 2 Pints | 238 |
| 1 fl oz | 6.2 |
| 12 fl oz | 74.4 |
| 20 fl oz | 124 |
Now i know these raw numbers might not jump out at you as being good or bad so i’ll go on to compare with many other beers and drinks.
After looking at all these beverages we can really see where Heineken stands.
How many calories are in other Heineken beers?
The first step at assessing if Heineken 0.0 is low calorie is to see how it compares to the other Heineken beer range.
Heineken is a massive global company with lots of brands under its umbrella.
The table below is the calories per 100ml for a selection of their most popular beers…
| Type of Guinness | Calories per 100ml in kcal |
| Heineken 0.0 | 21 |
| Heineken | 42 |
| Amstel | 31 |
| Lagunitas | 51 |
| Sol | 40 |
| Tiger | 42 |
| Birra Moretti | 37 |
That is a good start for Heineken 0.0. Even if you don’t know what a low calorie number is for a beer per 100ml you can see that Heineken 0.0 has 50% few calories than alcoholic Heineken. Amstel comes the closest as it has the lowest ABV at 4.1%
How will that compare to other beers tho? Perhaps the Heineken brands are particularly high in calories.
Heineken 0.0 vs other beers.
Next, we can look at a few other giant beer brands and also some “light” beers to see if Heineken 0.0 can measure up vs them.
Below is a table of some big brands and light beers.
| Type of Beer | Calories per 100ml in kcal |
| Heineken 0.0 | 16 |
| USDA standard beer | 43 |
| Heineken | 42 |
| Budweiser | 41 |
| Bud Light | 29 |
| Coors Light | 29 |
| Brewdog Nanny State | 6 |
Heineken 0.0 is again much lower in calories than the the other alcoholic beers and even the light beers. All except Nanny State, which is a bit nasty on my part.
I have included BrewDog Nanny State in as a reference. It is the lowest calorie, non alcoholic beer i have found and i think exists. My full review of it is here.
Nanny State is an ale and can pack in lots of hops (they have 7-8 varieties) and bitterness to give flavour. Heineken is a lager, made a different way and with milder flavours so it can be difficult to recreate fullness without carbs and sugar which carry calories.
Heineken 0.0 vs other drinks.
Lastly lets see how Heineken 0.0 compares to other drinks that aren’t beers. Where does it stack up vs Coca Cola or just plain orange juice?
| Type of drink | Calories per 100ml in kcal |
| Heineken 0.0 | 21 |
| Coca Cola | 37 |
| Orange Juice | 47 |
| WKD Blue | 83 |
| Red Bull | 45 |
| 1% Milk | 44 |
| Ginger Ale | 34 |
Not surprisingly the fizzy drinks are high in calories as are fruit juices. WKD is a fizzy sweet alcopop as it’s calories are extremely high due to both sugar and alcohol.
Heineken 0.0 is easily the lowest calorie of these common drinks. The same would be true for nearly all non alcoholic or alcohol free beers beers.
Is Heineken 0.0 low in carbohydrate?
Heineken 0.0, along with most non alcoholic beers, has more carbohydrate than alcoholic beers. It has 4.8g of carbohydrate per 100ml which is 70% higher than Heineken at 2.8g per 100ml.
If we again compare Heineken 0.0 to the other beers in the Heineken range…
| Type of Guinness | Carbohydrate per 100ml in kcal |
| Heineken 0.0 | 4.8 |
| Heineken | 2.8 |
| Amstel | 1.8 |
| Lagunitas | 3.7 |
| Sol | 3.5 |
| Tiger | 3.7 |
| Birra Moretti | 2.8 |
Heineken 0.0 at 4.8g/100ml is comfortably the highest carbohydrate loaded beer in this sample. How does it compare to other non alcoholic beers and other beers from outside Heineken’s stable?
| Type of beer | Carbohydrate per 100ml in kcal |
| Heineken 0.0 | 4.8 |
| Erdinger Alkolholfrei | 5.3 |
| Leffe Blond 0.0 | 9.8 |
| Galactic Milk Stout 0.5% | 6.7 |
| Heineken | 2.8 |
| Guinness 0.0 | 3.5 |
| Budweiser | 3 |
| Budweiser Zero | 3.3 |
A bit of a mixed bag but as you can see, there are some much higher carbohydrate loaded non alcoholic beers with Leffe Blond 0.0 about the highest i have seen.
Heineken 0.0 isn’t a huge amount higher than Guinness 0.0 or Budweiser Zero so i think it is reasonably low calorie in the wider non alcoholic and alcohol free market.
Is Heineken 0.0 low in sugar?
The sugar part of nutrition profile is not in addition to carbohydrate, but a level of added sugar that makes up the overall carbohydrate weight. It is rapidly digested and can cause spikes in blood glucose and is turned into fat readily.
In general, alcoholic beers, especially the lagers, will have no added sugar. The non alcoholic beers will generally always have more sugar but the trick is to find the lowest of them.
The table below shows some of different sugar levels in alcoholic and non alcoholic beers.
| Type of beer | Sugar per 100ml in kcal |
| Heineken 0.0 | 1.3 |
| Erdinger Alkolholfrei 0.5% | 3.6 |
| Leffe Blond 0.0 | 1.1 |
| Galactic Milk Stout 0.5% | 3.1 |
| Heineken | 0 |
| Guinness 0.0 | 0.4 |
| Budweiser | 0 |
| Budweiser Zero | 0.1 |
As you can see, there is quite a wide range in added sugar. The lowest calorie, non alcoholic beers, like Guinness 0.0 have little added sugar. Heineken has some at 1.3g/100ml but other have nearly x3 this amount.
In general i have a finger in the air 2g of add sugar per 100ml that i would like a light beer to have under. Some of the cheap, nasty supermarket on brand ones have higher carbs and sugar and little to no flavour to carry it.
Why are non alcoholic beers lower in calories than alcoholic beers?
So non alcoholic beers have more sugar but fewer calories, how is this?! The answer is alcohol is calorie dense. A gram of alcohol has nearly 7 kcal, which is nearly as much as a gram of fat.
A 12 fl oz glass of 5% beer will have most of its calories coming from the alcohol and not nearly as much from the sugar.
| Substance | KCal per gram |
| Fat | 7 |
| Alcohol | 7 |
| Sugar | 4 |
Alcohol is even much more calorie dense than sugar. So the reduction in alcohol more than offsets the increase in sugar in terms of calories.
Conclusion
Heineken 0.0 is a pretty low calorie alcohol free beer, there are others with lower calories but not many. When you compare it to alcoholic beers and even other types of drink it stacks up very well with a large reduction in calories.
For a full list of Heineken 0.0 questions and answers see my article here
To read a full taste report of Heineken 0.0 and vs Heineken itself then read my article here
