Cider

Food · Drink · Food, Typed Supps

Fermented apple juice, where about half the kilojoules come from the alcohol rather than the sugar.

Stage by stage

Intake (Mouth): A liquid with no fat, protein or fibre; nothing is broken down before swallowing.
Early absorption (Stomach): About a fifth of the ethanol crosses the stomach wall; food present slows the rest.
Absorption (Small intestine): The remainder absorbs rapidly and distributes through total body water.
Clearance (Liver): Alcohol dehydrogenase oxidises ethanol at a fixed rate that drinking more does not increase.

Time to effect

Under an hour: Blood alcohol peaks roughly 30 to 60 minutes after drinking.

Allergens

Contains: Sulphites. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.

Eating patterns

Fits: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Kosher, Gluten-free. Depends on the product: Keto, Low-FODMAP.

Satiety

Not scored: the satiety index is measured on 240 kcal servings, and nobody eats a 240 kcal serving of this. The question does not apply rather than the answer being unknown.

Cost band

Cheap — roughly £2 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.

Key nutrients

Alcohol
Sugars

Nutrition per 100g

Calories: 50
Protein: 0g
Carbohydrate: 5.6g
of which sugars: 5.6g
Fat: 0g
of which saturated: 0g
Fibre: 0g
Sodium: 3mg

Food vs. supplement

Not applicable in any useful sense. The apple polyphenols occasionally cited for cider are present at doses far below anything studied, and the alcohol they arrive with is the dominant term by a wide margin.

Kitchen tip

Checking the sugar figure on the label is the only reliable way to tell a dry cider from a sweetened one — alcohol strength does not predict it, because the sweetening happens after fermentation is finished.

Common myth

“Cider is the healthier drink because it is made from fruit.” In reality: It behaves as alcohol plus sugar. The apple origin contributes flavour and a trace of polyphenols, and the yeast has already consumed the fruit sugar that was there — anything sweet in the glass was generally added back afterwards.