In praise of judicious consumption of beer. In response to the
commonly negative press on beer in Canada the author has
compiled a number of data to illustrate the positive side of
beer consumption. Judicious consumption is taken to be one litre
per day and many of the nutrients provided by this amount are
compared to the nutritional requirements of a 45 year old male
Canadian weighing about 80 kg. The beer can provide about half
the daily requirements of magnesium, niacin and folic acid, 20
to 30% of the requirements for chloride riboflavin and
pyridoxine. It is worth noting that this amount of beer supplies
about 15% of the daily calorie intake for a fairly heavy man.
Other areas where beer appears to have a positive effect are in
many social situations, especially geriatric hospital patients,
and, in general, consumption of moderate amounts of alcohol is
associated with a longer life expectancy than either heavy
drinking or total abstinence. Keywords: beer constituent
consumption nsutrition