More healthy good news…

I’ve just read more good news about the health benefits of beer !  Professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences (great job!) at the University of California (Davis) Charles Bamforth, proclaims “regular moderate intake of alcohol is good for the heart and blood circulation.  Real ale is a good choice – relatively low in alcohol and made from natural raw ingredients”.

So what’s in beer that potentially makes it healthy?  Lets look at the 4 man ingredients of beer malt, hops, yeast and water.

Malted cereal contains proteins, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins, soluble fibre and amino acids.  There is no fat in beer and most of the sugars from the malting process are fermented out.  The malt in beer is more nutritious than it is in cereal!  This is because the nutritional value of food and drink increases when fermentation of food or drink takes place.  There are loads of B vitamins in beer and it’s a rich source of silicon (vital for the formation of collagen and limits the brain’s absorption of aluminium – believed to play a part in the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s).

Hops are a natural medicine and can be used to treat a variety of ailments and also prevents the growth of food poisoning pathogens.

Yeast contains vitamins and proteins and is also the source of ethanol (alcohol) which, in small doses, raises ‘good’ cholesterol levels and therefore helps reduce the threat of heart disease.

And we all now that water is good for us.

I’ll drink to that…!

So a pint of 4% beer is 190 calaries…compare that to a kebab that you may stop for on the way home which is a staggering 800-1000 calaries!

However the key is to drink moderately with the NHS recommending a lower-risk daily intake of 1.5 pints for men and a pint for women.

A case of beer from Fetch The Drinks should keep you going for nearly two weeks!

Cheers and good health!