BONN (dpa) – Beer hasn’t got the best reputation – at least as far as those wanting to keep their midriff flat are concerned.
That was not always so: the late-medieval surgeon Paracelsus, for example, was convinced that “beer is a divine medicine”.
It wasn’t uncommon in the following centuries for doctors to prescribe it to patients who needed a bit of fortifying. Today, though, a passionate beer drinker is usually thought of as someone who drinks until he drops, ruining his liver in the process.
Erich Dederichs, spokesman for the German Brewers’ Federation, says the phenomenon is all part of the “scientific paradox”.
This maintains that because the majority of scientific investigations into alcoholic beverages are concerned with the harmful effects of abuse, an impression is created that beer itself is harmful. Dederichs’ job has convinced him that this is not the case.
Dederichs also thinks the “yarn with the beer belly” nothing more than a rumour: “Anyone who drinks beer in moderation on the one side, and eats healthily on the other, won’t get fat.”
“The fattening stuff comes from the bags of crisps which go with the beer drinking.”
And as far as calories go, beer actually contributes less to the waistline than other drinks, according to the Brewers’ Federation. A 2l0-millilitre glass of wine contains 155 kilocalories (kcal), a glass of sparking wine 170, and a glass of beer just 90 kcal.
All that could be dismissed as industrial propaganda if one disregarded the growing number of scientists who are now also agreeing that beer has had an unjustifiably hard time of it in the public perception.
Take for example the International Centre for Health and Society at University College London. It published the results of a study last year which examined men between the ages of 25 and 64, ascertaining that the least risk of heart disease was among those volunteers who drank beer in moderate quantities.
In fact, the danger of a heart attack was least in the group that drank between four and nine litres a week.
That correlates with the findings of Professor Anton Piendl. He has spent many years examining the physiological significance of beer ingredients at the Technical University of Munich’s Weihenstephan Scientific Centre.
These include polyphenols, for instance, the same chemicals found in red wine and said to prevent heart attacks.
“The methods used to analyse wine have since been adapted to beer,” says Professor Piendl.
The investigations showed that the polyphenols in beer have a range of positive effects, says Piendl. They are anti-inflammatory and guard against vascular diseases, and it is undisputed that moderate beer consumption lowers the risks of heart attack.”
Piendl also points to another component, xanthohumol, that may even play a role in cancer prevention.
Also undisputed is that the alcohol in beer also has an effect on the metabolism of cholesterol by lowering levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), known as the bad cholesterol. This causes arteriosclerosis when too much of it is in the blood.
The proportion of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), the “good cholesterol”, on the other hand, rises through beer consumption. Arteriosclerosis, often the cause of heart attacks and strokes, thus becomes less likely.
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin has found that both wine and beer can cut mortality rates related to circulatory diseases.
Speaking of the results of its own studies, staff member Gert Mensink stresses that “this specifically applies to a moderate level of drinking only. And that means no more than one or two glasses daily.”
Karl-Heinz Ricken, an internist from Saarlouis, sees moderate beer consumption as providing a contribution to lowering the dangers to health, for example, by improving the blood’s ability to clot and cholesterol levels or the positive influence on blood-sugar levels.
The doctor, co-author of “Gesund mit Bier” (Health with Beer, in German, published by Falken Verlag), is convinced that moderate beer consumption can lead to a significantly lower risk of vascular illness, heart attacks or strokes.
In addition, it can promote circulation and digestion. As beer contains important minerals – magnesium and potassium – as well as trace elements, such as zinc and selenium, it also benefits the human immune system, says Ricken.
So raise your glasses to beer? Unfortunately, it isn’t that simple.
As the German Nutrition Society (DGE) in Bonn warns, drinking alcohol merely to prevent heart disease cannot be recommended as the negative effects of daily alcohol consumption are generally greater than the positive effects.
Gert Mensink at the RKI agrees, pointing out that the link in young car drivers between alcohol consumption and fatal accidents is clearly provable. “You don’t have to drink beer to live healthily,” admits Erich Dederichs. “But you can drink beer without damaging your health.”
