Beer is ‘good for us’ as pints carry brain-boosting nutritional vitamins that profit your well being
Eggheads have found a pint of booze could help people hit their daily intake of a vitamin which helps the brain, the blood and the immune system in a shocking new find. We’ll drink to that!
Boffins have found a pint could help you hit your daily vitamin B6 intake
Drinking beer can provide “substantial levels” of brain-boosting vitamins, boffins say. A study found a pint of booze could help you meet around 20% of your daily serving of the vitamin B6, which is good for the brain, the blood and the immune system.
It is present in numerous different foods such as meat, fish, potatoes and chickpeas and even booze. German scientists tested 65 different beers bought in supermarkets in the country, including both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.
Published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, they found bock beer had the highest B6 content behind lagers, dark lagers, and wheat beers.
At the other end of the spectrum, rice beers had the lowest levels of the vitamin. According to the NHS, men need about 1.4mg a day and women 1.2mg of vitamin B6 – and not getting enough of the enzyme can leave people suffering from tiredness.
Eggheads concluded the average lager in the study provided around 20% of recommended dietary need of vitamin B6. Study author Prof Michael Rychlik has said while the find is interesting shops won’t be posting vitamin stickers on beer bottles anytime soon.
He said: “If you stick within recommended alcohol limits, that’s not enough for regulators to allow you to put a sticker on the front of a bottle hailing its vitamin content, but it’s still a measurable amount.”
He warned the findings were “only for consumers who want to optimise their vitamin intake.” Bridget Benelam, from the British Nutrition Foundation, has stated a B6 deficiency is uncommon in the UK due to the vitamin appearing in a standard diet.
She said: “We wouldn’t suggest that beer or any alcoholic drink is seen as a key source of nutrients. That should be from diet. Unless you are eating a very restricted diet, it’s unlikely that you are not going to be getting enough vitamin B6.”
Despite the health benefits being small boozers on social media have celebrated the study as a win for drinkers. One social media user said: “Great news!! Your pint could come with a surprising health benefit.” Another user wrote: “I’ll drink to that.”
It comes after we has previously reported on a shocking find that brews are being served ever-weaker by pubs but the huge tax savings aren’t being passed on to punters
Campaigners are demanding government action over a trend called “drinkflation” where big breweries are cutting the alcohol content in our pints to take advantage of tax incentives – but aren’t cutting the cost of those drinks in our locals.
Our investigation into weakened pints found that top names like Fosters, Amstel, John Smith’s and Sol all considerably contain less alcohol – known as Alcohol By Volume or ABV – in them today than just a few years ago.
Some have gone from as much as 5% to just 3.4%. And campaigners have accused big breweries of taking advantage of government tax breaks and not passing on savings to consumers.
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