Beer : Health and Nutrition

128 Chapter Six
somewhat lower in most beers and white wine as opposed to red wine, and not a major
component of most spirits (see Chapter 5).
Moderate consumption of alcohol might also reduce the risk of heart problems through
its role in decreasing stress (Baum-Baicker 1985b; Pohorecky 1990; Marmot et al.
1993; Vasse et al. 1998). Perhaps beer is particularly valuable in this regard because the
hop-derived bittering agents are said to have sedative and hypnotic in uences (Cooper
1994). Williams (1997) showed that exercise and alcohol independently bene ted the
levels of HDL in men and women.
Imhof et al. (2001) demonstrated that the blood of non-drinkers and heavy drinkers
had higher concentrations of a protein called CRP than did that of moderate drinkers.
CRP is a marker of in ammation, and the authors suggest that an anti-in ammatory
action of alcohol might be a factor in the bene cial impact of moderate consumption
of alcohol.
Cleophas (1999) and Rimm and colleagues (1996) have summarised the literature
comparing the relative impact of beer, wine and spirits on coronary heart disease. Rimm
highlights the problems with so-called ‘ecological studies’ that are based on using
existing data previously collected as part of census and surveillance programmes. This
type of study tends to report that wine has bene cial impacts, but that beer and spirits
don’t. However, by way of illustration, Renaud et al. (1992) observed that wine drinking
tends to be associated with other habits and that these are actually responsible for
the additional bene ts (i.e. a secondary correlation is occurring). Wine drinkers often
belong to socio-economic categories enjoying a healthier lifestyle and superior health
care (Klatsky et al. 1997; Galobardes et al. 2001). The overall diet of those drinking
wine may be better than that of people for whom beer is the drink of choice (Tjonneland
et al. 1999) and they may exercise more (Woodward & Tunstall-Pedoe 1995). Burke
et al. (1995) elaborate on this point of lifestyle by stressing how Australian men who
preferred beer to wine also drank larger quantities, smoked more and had a generally less
healthy diet. Analyses of dietary patterns have seen beer bracketed with ‘convenience
food’ (Pryer et al. 2001). Watten (1999) reported a relationship between daily smoking
and beer consumption, clearly highlighting the confounding factor scenario. It has even
been observed (Osler 1998) that a partner’s smoking promotes consumption of certain
foodstuffs, including beer.
Rogers and Green eld (1999) claim that hazardous drinking (de ned as those occasions
when ve or more drinks are consumed daily) is associated more with beer than
with other types of alcoholic beverage and, predictably enough, this correlates with
younger, unmarried males. Mortensen et al. (2001) found that those selecting wine
over beer tended to have higher IQ, higher parental educational attainment and higher
socio-economic status. Furthermore beer drinkers fared less well than wine drinkers
on scales of psychiatric and health-related behaviour. Mortensen concluded that the
apparent superior health bene ts of wine over beer were related to better social and