A Beer Mustache
Jonathan’s recent post about beer for dogs combined with my latest beer of the month shipment has had me thinking about the health benefits of beer. After all it’s just grain, water, hops and yeast. Heck, our grains are even ORGANIC sometimes - that’s gotta be good. So, here are the stats on 1 cup of 2% milk vs. 1 cup of an average beer:
Milk vs. Beer
Fat (g) 5 vs. 0
Fiber (g) 0 vs. 0.5
Sodium (mg) 122 vs. 12
Cholesterol (mg): 20 vs. 0
Calories: 122 vs. 97
Calories from Fat (%): 37 vs. 0
So which will YOU put on your cereal tomorrow morning?
The enterprising Japanese have figured out that you should start talking about these health benefits at a very young age. How? Non-alcoholic children’s beer (thanks to Hikari for finding this article too…google translation so a bit tough to follow….you get the idea). On top of that some other Japanese guy has come up with BILK (70% Beer, 30% Milk) for those of you who want the best of both worlds.
Amazing. And not surprising that Japanese have the longest life expectancy of anyone in the world.
Jonathan, Joel & Jeff
May 2nd, 2008 at 6:30 am
While i love the stats, where did they come from? I’ve always heard random numbers for these (especially the calories part) and i’d love to have facts to point people to…
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:14 am
Look like stats from PETA.
http://www.milksucks.com/beersurvey.asp
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:43 am
Thanks Andy. Actual data is from USDA but there is no way to easily get to it without digging through PDFs…so I’m expecting that PETA is telling the truth.
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:51 am
o I’m expecting that PETA is telling the truth.
Yeah, because a web site like “milksucks.com” can’t be biased!
As for the numbers, I think most of it is correct, EXCEPT the calories. That may be true for a light American Lager, in fact I think it’s probably pretty close to accurate for something like Miller LIte.
But let’s face it, we’re homebrewers. Miller Lite is like water with a little bit of beer flavoring added in; something we drink when mowing the lawn in 95 degree heat. You start getting into non-light beers, and even a typical MGD or Bud is probably 140-150 calories.
And your 6.5% IPA, or your 9.8% Imperial Stout, or your 12% Belgian Quad? We’re talking 200+ calories in a 12 ounce serving, probably over 300 for the stout & quad.
But it’s correct that beer is fat-free and cholesterol-free.