It's Official. Beer is good for you.
By Steve Sharp
Guinness is Good for You, was the advertising slogan made famous by the firm from the 1920’s until it was banned in the 1960’s, no longer considered a healthy option.
Guinness also claimed to Give You Strength, and according to The Royal College of Physicians Museum, Guinness wrote to every doctor in the UK to encourage them to send in their views.
Many doctors responded positively, sending anecdotes and testimonials along with their own personal use of Guinness as a tonic and how they used it with their patients. It was believed to be rich in iron, so doctors would often prescribe Guinness to patients following an operation or to pregnant women.
Although prohibited from making healthy claims, Guinness stout has contained alcohol for 261 years until in 2020 it launched Guinness 0.0 a non-alcoholic version. The famous beer goes through a similar production process. Guinness 0.0 is made using the same ingredients that are used for the alcoholic beer, water, barley, hops and yeast, then the alcohol is removed through a cold filtration method. Thus, the unique flavour is retained, unaffected by heating the brew and spoiling the taste.
Image source: Guinness
It contains useful nutrients and is less than half the calories of the full fat version, so definitely healthier, but now scientists are saying that many beers with alcohol can be good for you. Drinking beer could be good for your gut health and your immune system, scientists suggest.
Researchers found that drinking pints, in moderation, could be better for some aspects of your health than abstaining altogether. It’s thought that drinking beer boosts the body's immune system because of a collection of healthy bacteria that benefit the gut.
The study by the Dalian Medical University, claims polyphenols, fibre and ethanol in beer are key ingredients in supercharging your immune system. It was found to be more beneficial to the gut than the probiotics found in yoghurt.
“As a long-established fermented beverage, beer is rich in many essential amino acids, vitamins, trace elements and bio active substances that are involved in the regulation of many human physiological functions,” the authors wrote.
“When alcohol consumption is controlled within safe limits, the combined effects of alcohol and other component metabolism on the intestinal flora deserve a more comprehensive analysis”.
However, they warned the benefits of drinking beer on the gut only applied to moderate drinkers.
Researchers also agree that the healthiest beers with the most nutrition are stouts and porters, like Guinness, and hoppy beverages, such as Adnams Ghost Ship 4.2% abv.
Ghost Ship 0.5 version is also the only alcohol-free pale beer in the UK produced by a similar filtration, reverse osmosis method used by Guinness. It is now Britain’s leading no alcohol pale beer.
Guinness has been a long-term sponsor of rugby, especially Irish rugby, and The Six Nations. So, with the Rugby World Cup kicking off this weekend you can settle down to watch some games and enjoy a glass in the knowledge that it is indeed doing you good, in moderation of course.
But if you elect for the no alcohol version … you can fill your boots!
Steve