BERLIN (DPA) - Curious how you ended up with that beer belly?

Germany's brewers are here to help.

Starting this year, German brewers say they will begin adding information to their labels, explaining exactly how many calories you're consuming each time you put back a bottle.

Although the European Commission has threatened to require such labelling, the German Brewers Federation and the Private Breweries of Germany both said on Friday (Jan 18) that they were making the move of their own free will. The new labels will be phased in during the course of 2019.

So far, European Union laws do not require alcoholic beverages to come with nutritional labelling. But a survey by the INSA data group for the brewers showed that 52 per cent of German consumers would welcome such information.

The brewers say they hope winemakers and distillers will follow their example.

A standard pilsner contains about 40 calories per 100 millilitres of beer.