A man walks into a bar, orders a 12-ounce bottle of Corona Extra.
Another man walks in, orders a 12-ounce Guinness draft.
The two men turn to each other, raise their glasses and say, "Here's to
your health."
Question: Whose dietary and health interests are better served by the
12-ounce beer?
If the guidelines are less alcohol, fewer calories, fewer carbohydrates
and, to top it off, protection against heart attacks, blindness and
maybe even impotence, then it's the Guinness drinker, hands down.
No joke.
Guinness, in fact, is lower in alcohol, calories and carbohydrates than
Samuel Adams, Budweiser, Heineken and almost every other major-brand
beer not classified as light or low-carb. It has fewer calories and
carbohydrates than low-fat milk and orange juice, too.
Could this be the same Irish stout that looks like a still-life
root-beer float and tastes about as filling as a quarter-pounder with
cheese?
Yes, the same Guinness that beer expert Michael Jackson (this MJ, the
British king of hops, has recognizable human facial features) calls the
world's classic dry stout. It's a favorite of Bono (obviously), Madonna
(with a good cigar) and Matt Damon (no, Guinness does not make teeth
unnaturally white).
This tastes-great, more-filling formula defies nutritional expectations
because Guinness is so low in alcohol, a source of empty calories.
Guinness is 4.2 percent alcohol by volume, the same as Coors Light.
Budweiser and Heineken check in at 5 percent.
"That surprised me," says Dr. Joseph Brennan, a Yale-New Haven Hospital
cardiologist of Irish heritage and a confirmed Guinness drinker.
"I could never understand why one or two wouldn't leave me
light-headed."
Brennan, like many cardiologists, recommends a drink! a day for his
cardiac patients. Red wine, in particular, has been shown to help prevent
heart attacks. Now maybe it's beer's turn. A University of Wisconsin
study last fall found that moderate consumption of Guinness worked like
aspirin to prevent clots that increase the risk of heart attacks.
In the study, Guinness proved twice as effective as Heineken at
preventing blood clots. Guinness is loaded with flavonoids, antioxidants
that give the dark color to many fruits and vegetables.
These antioxidants are better than vitamins C and E, the study found,
at keeping bad LDL cholesterol from clogging arteries. Blocked arteries
also contributes to erectile dysfunction, as does overindulgence in
alcohol.
Guinness has a higher concentration than lighter beers of vitamin B,
which lowers levels of homocysteine, linked to clogged arteries. And
researchers have found that antioxidants from the moderate use of stout
might reduce the incidence of cataracts by as much as 50 percent.
It's milk's line, but beer gives you strong bones, too.
"The reason, we think, is that beer is a major contributor to the diet
of silicon," says Katherine Tucker, an associate professor of
nutritional epidemiology at Tufts University's Friedman School of
Nutrition
Science and Policy.
Tucker recently participated in a study that showed beer, either dark
or light, protects bone-mineral density because of its high levels of
silicon, which allows the deposit of calcium and other minerals into bone
tissue.
In Ireland, where the slogan "Guinness Is Good for You" was born, the
stout's medicinal uses are the stuff of legend. The U.S.
distributor of Guinness, makes no claims about its medical benefits, says
spokeswoman Beth Davies from the company's offices in Stamford.
But a visitor to Ireland might hear accounts (most no longer, if ever,
true) of Guinness administered to nursing mothers, blood donors,
stomach and intestinal post-operative patients and mothers recovering from
childbirth.
"Pregnant women and racehorses, one a day," says Michael Foley of
Wethersfield, standing over a pint of Guinness in the subterranean bar at
the Irish American Home Society in Glastonbury.
Racehorses?
Foley, who left Castlemaine, County Kerry, 43 years ago but retains a
Guinness-thick brogue, returns a cocked-head glance that says, loosely
translated from Gaelic, "Duh."
"It's made from barley, you know," he says.
True. Roasted and malted barley (it gives Guinness its deep ruby
color), hops, yeast and water from the Wicklow Mountains, south of Dublin.
Guinness gets its rich, creamy head from a mixture of nitrogen and carbon
dioxide when dispensed from a tap.
Our man who ordered that 12-ounce Guinness obviously wasn't in an Irish
pub, which serves the stout in a 20-ounce imperial-pint glass after a
deliberate, often agonizing, two-part pour that allows the beer to
settle. But if he knows what's good for him, maybe he'll stick around for
one more.
"Most health research," says Tucker, "suggests that benefits, including
protection against heart disease, are noted with up to one drink per
day for women and up to two a day for men. Above this amount, the
negative effects of alcohol seem to outweigh the positive effects."
By KEVIN HUNT, The Hartford Courant