Good Health!

(A traditional toast for beer drinkers)

All alcohol-related social problems are caused by beer. You could be forgiven for believing this after recent media coverage on the topic.

Wine is never blamed for fatalities on the road, domestic violence or poverty. We have of course the lager louts who are responsible for the violence in your hospitals A&E departments. Anyone who ventures out into the ‘hostelry’s’ that serve our younger end of the population will see that it is the likes of the WDK’s and the ‘shots’ of alcohol and flavourings that are consumed in binge drinking.

It is time to set the record straight for beer.

Marianne Thysen, member of the European Parliament, stated in opening speech, moderate consumption of beer has a positive effect on health. Dr. Pilar of the university of Valancia has reported on the anti-oxidative properties of beer in vivo and in vitrio. We know free radicals are constantly produced in our bodies. They change the cell structure, denature proteins and may provoke carcinogenic changes of the nucleic acids. To prevent these reactions antioxidants function as a buffer. In beer these are phenolic compounds such as phenol carbon acids,flavonoids,and tannoids.The Spanish scientists examined the antioxidants found in beer and compared them to well known antioxidants such as vitamin C and vitamin E. The results appeared to independent of the type of beer. The most significant compounds were the proanthocyanadines which showed eight times more potential than vitamin C and fifty five times more than vitamin E. In the in-vivo tests the polyphenolic compounds isolated from beer prolonged the vitality of cells. They had an all over protective effect. Most of all they suppressed the lipid oxidation, increased the ATP contents and decreased the formation of carbonylic compounds in the cell.

Professor Dr. Dennis de Keukeleire has examined the polyphenols found in beer,mainly the flavonoids quercetin and campherol. These do have powerful anti-oxidant properties. According to the prof. , their content makes beer equivalent at to wine as regard ant-oxidative capacity. Two of the most exciting compounds are derived from hops. Xanthohumol is the most important one of the 20 compounds known up to now. However, 8_prenylnaringenin (8PN)

Seems to be a very interesting candidate too, since it able to develop a lot of possible activities in the body. The beneficial action of these compounds is most distinct against hormone caused cancers such as mammary cancer, uterine cancer, and prostate cancer. Research from Ghent shows that 8PN is very effective in preventing the aggregation of mammary cancer cells. This is a hint that it might prevent the development of metastases.

Further results show that it inhibits the activation of the cytochrome-P450 enzyme. This enzyme assists the metabolic transformation of pre-carcinogenic to carcinogenic compounds.

Work done at the German Cancer Research Station Heidelberg, showed that out of 2000 compounds examined Xanthohumol proved the most interesting compound. It was found to have a preventative effect during all stages of cancer development, from the state of emergence to proliferation. They confirmed these findings in vivo where they found that in very low concentrations Xanthohumol suppressed the development of cancer in the mammary glands of mice. Compared to reveratrol found in red wine Xanthohumol is 200 times more active.

The amount found in beer is from 0- 21 mg/l. depending on the hopping regime in the brewery.

The later the hops are added the higher the levels in the final beer. Estimates have been made of the amount of beer that must be consumed in order for a significant amount of these protective compounds to pass in the blood stream. Currently these range from 1.5 litres per day to 60 litres!! The final truth will probably be some where between these two extremes.

Work in the UK on the vitamin content of beer has shown that it contains a number of important vitamins, notably folic acid

(vitamin B9). Folic acid can protect not only from coronary heart diseases and cancer but it is also recommended for pregnant women to prevent congenital defects. About 40% of the western population die from coronary heart disease. Heath politics now tries to counteract this by recommending that people increase their intake of folic acid.

In the UK beer contributes about 10% of the daily folic acid assimilation. Work carried out on the Czech population showed that the consumption of 1l of beer per day had a very positive effect on the homocystine level in the blood. (high levels of homocystine are associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease, folic acid reduces it to methionine).

Finally, Dr Jonathan Powell, St Thomas Hospital, London has shown that beer contains a great amount of dietetically valuable silicon in the form of its biologically available variant, ortho-silicate. New studies have shown that ortho-silicate promotes the growth of the bones. Foe adults the daily supply should be 20-50 mg depending on age and sex. Beer contains 10-40 mg/l of which 50% is assimilated into the body. Therefore beer must be considered one of the most important sources of dietary silicon.

It obvious when viewed impartially, the moderate use of beer should be promoted at a national level for the good heath of the nation.

It is not helpful to concentrate only on the cost of alcohol abuse to the NHS and not take into count the savings that beer drinking contributes.

Copyright © 2004 The Coach House Brewing Co. Ltd
Last modified: 10/15/06