By Chinyere Abiaziem / Reporter, Lagos
A lot of people drink beer for social interaction and do not stop to consider if there are benefits to be derived from the beverage.
By definition, beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the saccharification of starch and fermentation of the resulting sugar.
The starch and saccharification enzymes are often derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat.
However, contrary to the opinion that beer is unhealthy and dangerous to the body, nutrition, medical, food and beverage experts have disclosed that this drink performs no small wonder to human lives and wellbeing.
Experts noted that alcohol, when taken in the right proportion, promotes longevity, protects the heart, prevents diabetes mellitus, prevents bone weakening (osteoporosis) as a result of the oestrogen increase in the blood associated with alcohol consumption in women, reduces dementias (decline of cognitive ability with the advance of age), Parkinson’s disease, gallstones and kidney stones among others.
Presenting research works to support the claims on benefits and values of beer, Dr. Olu Malomo, Department of Food Science and Technology, College of Food Sciences, Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun State, noted that beer is the beverage brand obtained by the yeast fermentation of malted cereal grains (usually barley, sorghum, maize or rice), to which hops and pure water have been added.
He dismissed the notion that beer is specifically responsible for belly fat, but attributed pot belly to unhealthy lifestyle such as storing instead of burning up excess calories from food and drinks through exercise. He added that beer is really a first order thirst quencher.
Professor Bankole Omotosho of the University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa, said the natural raw material from which beer is brewed makes it safe for health.
According to him, “beer drinking can make a positive contribution to a healthy diet because of the wholesome raw materials used in brewing beer.
“These natural raw materials are cereals, hops, yeast and water. They are soluble fibres derivable from the cell walls of barley, which are good for human health.
“All these natural materials contain antioxidants, vitamins especially of the B variation, silicon and fibre. Beer is generally, on the average, 93 per cent water. As a result beer is a thirst quencher of the first order with low alcohol.
“They are not health risks when alcohol is taken moderately. Foods and drinks consumed by human beings contain both bad fat and good fat. When alcohol is consumed there is an increase of good fat.
“This is the fat that the body can easily convert to energy. Bad fat has a habit of sitting at the neck or at the guts or anywhere else that would give it space. Alcohol does not contain this bad type of fat.
“There is also medical evidence that alcohol consumption has a blood thinning effect and this leads to the reduction of the tendency of blood to form clots. As we know now, blood clots prevent the flow of blood to the heart and the brain thus causing massive heart attacks.
“It is also true that moderate alcohol consumption reduces the inflammation of the inner linings of the nerves as well as a lower level of insulin resistance. Any alcohol, whether sourced from beer or wine or any other beverage, protects the heart. How much and how often must be governed by the ruled of moderation spelt out earlier. The consumption of beer with a meal is considered a better way rather than drinking on an empty stomach.”
He added that two glasses of beer contain, in average, 10 per cent of the recommended daily intake of soluble fibre.
The post Nutritional, health values in beer? appeared first on Daily Independent, Nigerian Newspaper.