Beer… a super food?

We’ve been convinced of the health benefits of coconut water, kale, acai berries and the rest, but could beer be the new super food?

A new article has slammed a recent attempt to market beer as a super food; low in carbs and sugar. It comes as pressure mounts on beverage companies to reduce the amounts of sugar they are adding to their drinks.

The article quotes Nutritionist Dr Rosemary Stanton as saying:

“It’s the alcohol that contributes the kilojoules, at a rate of 29 kilojoules per gram. Beer contains very little in the way of valuable nutrients. There’s next to no protein, and no significant amount of other nutrients”.

Here are some more points from the article:

• Lion, which makes XXXX, Tooheys, Hahn, James Boag, James Squire and Little Creatures beers is using an internet site to market beer as a healthy choice.
• The website claims that “your favourite beers are on average 99.9% sugar free”
• The campaign spruiks nutritional labels on beer which show some varieties are low in sugar and carbs and it sells beer as a natural choice because it’s made only of hops, malt, yeast and water and is preservative free.
• Dr Stanton says alcohol negatively affects the body’s ability to metabolise kilojoules consumed from foods or from stored fat.
• Lion denies the internet site is an attempt to claim beer is a health food.

Our take is that beer contains no fructose or sucrose which is the sugar we are recommending lowering your intake of. It does contain a sugar called maltose which is pretty much pure glucose. As a result it will spike insulin and is a great storer of fat but you would have to do a lot of drinking to get the same damage to your liver that soft drink inflicts.  The truth is, and I’m sorry ladies, that champagne is much higher in sugar than beer. Merry Christmas 😉

Follow the link to read the full article.