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2010-02-09 07:15:20
If you downed one too many while watching the Super Bowl, here's at least one
reason to hold your head high: Drinking beer can be good for your health.
But seriously, a new analysis of 100 commercial beers shows the hoppy beverage
is a significant source of dietary silicon, a key ingredient for bone health.
Though past research has suggested beer is chockfull of silicon, little was
known about how silicon levels varied with the type of beer and malting process
used. So a pair of researchers took one for the team and ran chemical analyses
on beer's raw ingredients. They also picked up 100 commercial beers from the
grocery store and measured the silicon content.
The silicon content of the beers ranged from 6.4 mg/L to 56.5 mg/L, with an
average of 30 mg/L. Two beers are the equivalent of just under a half liter, so
a person could get 30 mg of the nutrient from two beers. And while there is no
official recommendation for daily silicon uptake, the researchers say, in the
United States, individuals consume between 20 and 50 mg of silicon each day.
However, other studies show that consuming more than one or two alcoholic
beverages a day may be, overall, bad for health.
The take-home message for the casual drinker: "Choose the beer you enjoy. Drink
it in moderation," lead researcher Charles Bamforth of the University of
California, Davis, told LiveScience. "It is contributing silicon (and more) to
your good health."
Bamforth and his colleague Troy Casey, both of the university's Department of
Food Science and Technology, detail their findings in the February issue of the
Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.
The silicon levels of beer types, on average:
Their research showed the malting process didn't affect barley's silicon
content, which is mostly in the grain's husk. However, pale-colored malts had
more silicon than the darker products, such as the chocolate, roasted barley
and black malt, which all have substantial roasting. The scientists aren't sure
why these darker malts have less silicon than other malts.
Hops were the stars of the beer ingredients, showing as much as four times more
silicon than was found in malt. The downside: Hops make up a much smaller
portion of beer compared with grain. Some beers, such as IPAs are hoppier,
while wheat beers tend to have fewer hops than other brews, the researchers
say.
"Beers containing high levels of malted barley and hops are richest in
silicon," Bamforth said. "Wheat contains less silicon than barley because it is
the husk of the barley that is rich in this element. While most of the silicon
remains in the husk during brewing, significant quantities of silicon
nonetheless are extracted into wort and much of this survives into beer."
(Wort is the sweet liquid that comes from mashing the grains and eventually
becomes beer.)
Got beer?
While the researchers are not recommending gulping beer to meet your silicon
intake needs, their study does add to others on the potential health benefits
of this cold beverage.
The type of silicon in beer, called orthosilicic acid, has a 50 percent
bioavailability, meaning that much is available for use in the body. Some
foods, like bananas are rich in silicon but only 5 percent is bioavailable.
This soluble form of silica found in beer could be important for the growth and
development of bone and connective tissue, according to the National Institutes
of Health.
Past research has suggested that moderate beer consumption may help fight
osteoporosis, a disease characterized by low bone mass and deterioration of
bone tissue.
Another past study involving nearly 1,700 women reported last year in the
journal Nutrition showed participants who were light to moderate beer drinkers
had much better bone density than non-drinkers. The researchers suggested the
beer's plant hormones, not the alcohol, could be responsible for the bone
boost.