PUBLIC health expert Dominic Harrison has joined calls for alcoholic drinks to display the number of calories they contain, in a bid to tackle obesity.

The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) has called for calorie counts to be included alongside the number of units and pregnancy warnings, after doctors warned that a large glass of wine can contain around 200 calories - the same as a doughnut.

East Lancashire is repeatedly highlighted for its high levels of obesity and alcohol abuse, and Dominic Harrison, director of public health at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said the measure could bring positive changes to the borough.

He added: “Alcohol in all its forms has a very surprisingly high calorie count and this is very rarely identified on the label.

“I would strongly urge the government to require calorie count labels to be added to all alcohol products sold as part of its future strategy to control obesity and obesity-related diseases such as diabetes.

“My personal preference is for products to state how long it would take to run or walk off the calories. It takes about 20 minutes running on a treadmill at a steady pace to lose 200 calories, or one glass of wine. If we included that information with all alcohol calorie data it might make us all think twice.”

Pendle councillor Azhar Ali, who is cabinet member for health at Lancashire County Council, said it was an ‘interesting idea’, but said the government should first focus on introducing minimum pricing for alcohol.

He added: “Minimum pricing would have a much bigger impact, and we need solutions now rather than later.”

The government considered bringing in a minimum alcohol unit price in 2012, but rejected the policy last year, saying there was not enough ‘concrete evidence’ that it would reduce harm.

Instead a ban on below-cost selling was brought in to try to end the practice of supermarkets using drink as a loss-leader. However, ministers are still considering minimum pricing as a policy.