BERLIN • Curious how you ended up with that beer belly?

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

Although the EU Commission has threatened to require such labelling, the German Brewers Federation and the Private Breweries of Germany both said yesterday that they were making the move of their own free will.

The new labels will be phased in over the course of this year.

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 100ml of beer.