Beer, football and the ancient Egyptians

This is going to be one of those Santa Claus/Easter bunny moments for some of you out there, especially athletes who are my age (let’s just say that includes all who’ve passed the half-century mark). Back in the 1970s (I know, not one of the exemplary eras for healthy living), I had friends who were marathon runners and tri-athletes, and one of them swore to me that drinking beer was part of his nutrition regimen. It has hops, he used to say, and those help restore some of whatever it is your body loses when it sweats a lot.Think about the ancient Egyptians, he used to say. Beer for them was the equivalent of a loaf of bread (nonprocessed whole wheat bread, of course). I was young. I believed him. Fast-forward to the 21st century and it looks like the “healthy beer” myth is just that — a myth. We’re talking about this, of course, because the Super Bowl is this weekend. In addition to being an American celebration of football, it is also a big day for the drinking of beer. I had hoped I could offer you dispensation for gulping down a cold one in front of the television, by telling you that beer has healthy hops and isn’t all that bad for you. Sorry. I did a pretty thorough Internet search (and even combed training blogs for triathletes), and no one recommends making beer the beverage of choice for your training table. On the other hand, beer isn’t completely bad for you, if for no other reason than that it’s 90 percent water and therefore good for keeping you hydrated (now we know why beer is such a good thirst quencher). There are indeed beneficial hops, but you’d need to drink to failure to get enough to make a difference. Drinking to failure, is, of course, very bad. But drinking as many as two 12-ounce beers a day for men (one for women) can have some health benefits. Let’s point out the obvious downsides of drinking beer first. There is a fairly high rate of alcohol abuse in this region (see the Foundation for Community Health article in this week’s paper, Page A1), so anyone struggling with that should not drink. Beer also has a lot of calories, averaging from 150 to 200 calories for 12 ounces. Light beers seem to have about half as many calories; stouts and dark beers don’t seem to be very much more fattening than regular beer. If you want to compare from the comfort of your home, go to www.beer100.com. I’ve begun to enjoy hard cider lately. It tastes good and doesn’t leave you smelling like beer. But it has about the same calories as beer and (because it’s made from pears or apples) has more carbohydrates than beer. What beer brings to the party, nutritionally, is polyphenols. Remember when everyone was talking about how good red wine is for your heart? Beer is the only other alcoholic beverage that has them, apparently. Beer has a lot of silicon, which I find kind of amusing although I couldn’t tell you exactly why. The silicon is supposed to strengthen your bones. Because it’s made from barley, beer has a lot of fiber (hard to believe, since it’s a liquid, but I got this data from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics so it must be true).It has a lot of vitamin B12, which is good for your brain and your nervous system and for building your blood. But the academy warns that the alcohol in the beer counteracts the brain-boosting benefits. So, beer isn’t completely bad for you, in moderation. But … keep in mind the moderation part please, especially if you’re in charge of the car keys.