Guinness, like other Irish stouts, enjoys a seasonal popularity every St. Patrick's Day. It has also been touted as being "good for you," at least by its own advertising posters decades ago.
But can this creamy, rich and filling beer really be added to a list of healthy beverages? Or is its reputation just good marketing? We researched the beer's history and talked to brewing experts and break out the good, the not-so-great and the ingenuity of Guinness.
By Lisa Drayer, CNN - Yesterday 8:00 PM
The good
The original Guinness is a type of ale known as stout. It's made from a grist (grain) that includes a large amount of roasted barley, which gives it its intense burnt flavor and very dark color. And though you wouldn't rank it as healthful as a vegetable, the stouts in general, as well as other beers, may be justified in at least some of their nutritional bragging rights.
According to Charlie Bamforth, distinguished professor emeritus aof brewing sciences at the University of California, Davis, most beers contain significant amounts of antioxidants, B vitamins, the mineral silicon (which may help protect against osteoporosis), soluble fiber and prebiotics, which promote the growth of "good" bacteria in your gut.
And Guinness may have a slight edge compared with other brews, even over other stouts.
"We showed that Guinness contained the most folate of the imported beers we analyzed," Bamforth said. Folate is a B vitamin that our bodies need to make DNA and other genetic material. It's also necessary for cells to divide. According to his research, stouts on average contain 12.8 micrograms of folate, or 3.2% of the recommended daily allowance.
Because Guinness contains a lot of unmalted barley, which contains more fiber than malted grain, it is also one of the beers with the highest levels of fiber, according to Bamforth. (Note: Though the US Department of Agriculture lists beer as containing zero grams of fiber, Bamforth said his research shows otherwise.)
Bamforth has researched and coauthored studies published in the Journal of the Institute of Brewing and the Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists.
Here's more potentially good news about Guinness: Despite its rich flavor and creamy consistency, it's not the highest in calories compared with other beers. A 12-ounce serving of Guinness Draught has 125 calories. By comparison, the same size serving of Budweiser has 145 calories, Heineken has 142 calories, and Samuel Adams Cream Stout has 189 calories. In the United States, Guinness Extra Stout, by the way, has 149 calories.
This makes sense when you consider that alcohol is the main source of calories in beers. Guinness Draught has a lower alcohol content, at 4.2% alcohol by volume, compared with 5% for Budweiser and Heineken, and 4.9% for the Samuel Adams Cream Stout.
In general, moderate alcohol consumption -- defined by the USDA's dietary guidelines for Americans as no more than two drinks per day for men or one drink per day for women -- may protect against heart disease. So you can check off another box.
The not-so-great
Guinness is still alcohol, and consuming too much can impair judgment and contribute to weight gain. Heavy drinking (considered more than 14 drinks a week for men or more than seven drinks a week for women) and binge drinking (five or more drinks for men, and four or more for women, in about a two-hour period) are also associated with many health problems, including liver disease, pancreatitis and high blood pressure.
According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, "alcohol is the most commonly used addictive substance in the United States: 17.6 million people, or one in every 12 adults, suffer from alcohol abuse or dependence along with several million more who engage in risky, binge drinking patterns that could lead to alcohol problems."
And while moderate consumption of alcohol may have heart benefits for some, consumption of alcohol can also increase a woman's risk of breast cancer for each drink consumed daily.
Many decades ago, in Irelahttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/is-guinness-beer-really-good-for-you/ar-BB1eG7R4nd, it would not have been uncommon for a doctor to advise pregnant and nursing women to drink Guinness. But today, experts (particularly in the United States) caution of the dangers associated with consuming any alcohol while pregnant.
"Alcohol is a teratogen, which is something that causes birth defects. It can cause damage to the fetal brain and other organ systems," said Dr. Erin Tracy, an OB/GYN at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive gynecology. "We don't know of any safe dose of alcohol in pregnancy. Hence we recommend abstaining entirely during this brief period of time in a woman's life."
What about beer for breastfeeding? "In Britain, they have it in the culture that drinking Guinness is good for nursing mothers," said Karl Siebert, professor emeritus of the food science department and previous director of the brewing program at Cornell University.
Beer in general has been regarded as a galactagogue, or stimulant of lactation, for much of history. In fact, according to irishtimes.com, breastfeeding women in Ireland were once given a bottle of Guinness a day in maternity hospitals.
According to Domhnall Marnell, the Guinness ambassador, Guinness Original (also known as Guinness Extra Stout, depending on where it was sold) debuted in 1821, and for a time, it contained live yeast, which had a high iron content, so it was given to anemic individuals or nursing mothers then, before the effects of alcohol were fully understood.
Some studies have showed evidence that ingredients in beer can increase prolactin, a hormone necessary for milk production; others have showed the opposite. Regardless of the conclusions, the alcohol in beer also appears to counter the benefits associated with increased prolactin secretion.
"The problem is that alcohol temporarily inhibits the milk ejection reflex and overall milk supply, especially when ingested in large amounts, and chronic alcohol use lowers milk supply permanently," said Diana West, coauthor of "The Breastfeeding Mother's Guide to Making More Milk."
"Barley can be eaten directly, or even made from commercial barley drinks, which would be less problematic than drinking beer," West said.
If you're still not convinced that beer is detrimental to breastfeeding, consider this fact: A nursing mother drinking any type of alcohol puts her baby in potential danger. "The fetal brain is still developing after birth -- and since alcohol passes into breast milk, the baby is still at risk," Tracy said.
"This is something we would not advocate today," Marnell agreed. "We would not recommend to anyone who is pregnant or breastfeeding to be enjoying our products during this time in their life."
Regarding the old wives' tale about beer's effects on breastfeeding, Marnell added, "It's not something that Guinness has perpetuated ... and if (people are still saying it), I'd like to say once and for all, it's not something we support or recommend."
The ingenuity
Assuming you are healthy and have the green light to drink beer, you might wonder why Guinness feels like you've consumed a meal, despite its lower calorie and alcohol content.
It has to do with the sophistication that goes into producing and pouring Guinness. According to Bamforth, for more than half a century, Guinness has put nitrogen gas into its beer at the packaging stage, which gives smaller, more stable bubbles and delivers a more luscious mouthfeel. It also tempers the harsh burnt character coming from the roasted barley. Guinness cans, containing a widget to control the pour, also have some nitrogen.
Guinness is also dispensed through a special tap that uses a mixture of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. "In Ireland, Guinness had a long history of hiring the best and brightest university graduates regardless of what they were trained in," Siebert said. "And they put them to work on things they needed. One was a special tap for dispensing Guinness, which has 11 different nozzles in it, that helps to form the fine-bubbled foam."
The foam is remarkably long-lasting. "After you get a freshly poured Guinness, you can make a face in the foam, and by the time you finish drinking it, the face is still there," Siebert said.
'It's a good day for a Guinness,' unless you're pregnant
The famous advertising Guinness slogans -- including "It's a good day for a Guinness" -- started through word of mouth, said Marnell. "In 1929, when we were about to do our first ad, we asked (ourselves), 'What stance should we take?' So we sent around a group of marketers (in Ireland and the UK) to ask Guinness drinkers why they chose Guinness, and nine out of 10 said their belief was that the beer was healthy for them. We already had this reputation in the bars before we uttered a word about the beer.
"That led to the Gilroy ads that were posted," Marnell explained, referring to the artist John Gilroy, responsible for the Guinness ads from 1928 to the 1960s. "You'll see the characters representing the Guinness brand -- the toucan, the pelican -- and slogans like 'Guinness is good for you' or 'Guinness for Strength.' But those were from the 1920s, '30s and '40s."
Today, he said, the company would not claim any health benefits for its beer. "If anyone is under the impression that there are health benefits to drinking Guinness, then unfortunately, I'm the bearer of bad news. Guinness is not going to build muscle or cure you of influenza."
In fact, Guinness' parent company, Diageo, spends a lot of effort supporting responsible drinking initiatives and educating consumers about alcohol's effects. Its DrinkIQ page offers information such as calories in alcohol, how your body processes it and when alcohol can be dangerous, including during pregnancy.
"One of the main things we focus on ... is that while we would love people to enjoy our beer, we want to make sure they do so as responsibly as possible," Marnell said. "We would never recommend that anyone drink to excess, and (we want to make people) aware of how alcohol effects the body."
And again: Most health providers in the US would advise forgoing all alcohol if you are pregnant, nursing or have other health or medical issues where alcohol consumption is not advised.
So responsibly celebrate St. Patrick this year a little wiser about the health benefits and risks with one of its signature potables.
This story originally published in 2017.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/is-guinness-beer-really-good-for-you/ar-BB1eG7R4
Everyone Has Been Drinking Guinness Wrong, Including Guinness
Tilt a twenty-ounce tulip pint 45 degrees, let the 6°C draught beer flow down the glass's side until filled three-quarters of the way to the harp logo, then let that settle for 86 seconds before topping it off. Exactly 119.53 seconds later, you have a perfect pint.
No beer is presented with more ceremony and rules than Guinness. Diageo, one of the world's most prominent alcoholic beverage conglomerates, calls that the "Guinness Experience." Crusty Irishmen call that the "proper" way to serve a Guinness. I call that, a brilliant marketing scam and waste of valuable drinking time.
With St. Patrick's Day on Tuesday, and thirteen million Guinness pints about to be consumed in a single day, I think it's finally time to admit the Guinness pour is unnecessary, no matter what they've had us believe over the 255 years of their existence.
Guinness is a fine enough dry stout, something even most beer geeks will readily admit. It's surely one of the most gorgeous beers around, with that deceptively dark ruby red body topped by a creamy mocha dome of a head. Its taste is a little less remarkable in this era of big, bold imperial stouts, but still, it's roasty, creamy, and insanely drinkable. Hardly motor oil thick like neophyte drinkers seem to believe, it's the "lite" beer that doesn't need to brag about it, at only 125 calories per twelve ounces. On those increasingly rare nights nowadays when I find myself drinking pints well into the double digits, it's often Guinness I'm throwing back.
Still, there are countless beers in this world and no others have the gall to claim that six steps—six steps—are necessary to get their liquid from a keg into your glass. Watch this two-minute pouring tutorial video on Guinness'swebsite. It seems like satire. I've watched YouTube videos on how to hit a golfball out of a pot bunker or tie a bow tie that are briefer. But, you say, the pour has to be special because Guinness is special. Even that's hardly true any more.
Guinness is exclusively served on nitrogen, meaning it is pressurized in the keg with a nitrogen/carbon dioxide mix (at a ratio of 75% to 25%) as opposed to being strictly carbonated like most beers. Unquestionably, nitrogen taps pour differently that standard lines, coming out rich and velvety and, indeed, taking a little while to settle. But not that long.
Guinness's two-part-pour myth-making might have worked back in the days when few beers were available as nitrogen pours. But, nowadays, countless beers are available "on nitro," with most bars devoting a line or two to special faucets which help further facilitate a nitrogen beer's correct flow. Nitrogen beers have long been the domain of stouts like Guinness, but as of late I've seen unexpected offerings like Left Hand's Sawtooth ESB and Founders Centennial IPA pop up on nitro. Literally the best beer I drank in all of 2013 was a milky double IPA on nitro, Alpine's Bad Boy. Yet my bartender managed to get all those other nitro beers in front of me a lot quicker than a completely arbitrary 119.53 seconds (not that I was timing on my chronograph).
Kyle Kensrue has heard all the myths about Guinness as well. A certified cicerone (essentially a sommelier for beer) and the beer director at New York's Randolph Beer, he told me: "They say that by taking your time and pouring Guinness in increments, you are able to let the beer cascade after each pour, making it more dense and creamy. I've never actually tried to pour in increments, but the science makes sense to me." Although, he also noted, "You could do it with any nitro beer theoretically."
I decided I should just test it out myself. I went to an Irish pub in midtown during off-hours and gave the bartender an odd request: a "proper" 119.53-second Guinness and one Guinness pulled like he'd pull a Bud Light. I asked him to serve them to me blindly and side-by-side, but that ultimately didn't matter. It was self-evident which was the properly-poured Guinness as its head was noticeably thicker compared to the quickly-poured pint which was bubbly and frothy. Still, aside from a slightly less creamy mouthfeel, the taste was the same and I doubt anything but the most discerning palate would have noticed a difference. The old cuss behind the bar was so surprised by my findings he did the same test himself, begrudgingly—but not quotably—admitting they tasted "about the same."
Sure, patience is a virtue. And, in this increasingly faster and faster modern world, there's nothing wrong with waiting for something quality to be crafted before your very eyes. I'm guilty myself of enjoying the "experience" of watching a hipster mixologist in a tight vest take a good fifteen minutes to carve a flawless ice square, meticulously measure and stir it, then delicately express a swath of orange peel just to make a simple Negroni. So maybe that's the way Guinness is for you, a pint of placebo, an evocative ale that takes you to a special place while you relax those 119.53 seconds. People like ceremony in their life, and well, if it can happen at the bar simply by handing over five or six bucks, I suppose that's all the better. But, at the least, it's time to finally admit you could get that same Guinness with about 60 seconds less foreplay.
Even brewmaster Fergal Murray admitted as much a few years back in Esquire, "It is a ritual. It's theater. It's about creating an experience." That experience might be pleasant for you, but for me, especially if I were going to be in a crowded bar on St. Patrick's Day (I won't), it's an experience of, "Couldja get me my beer before I order something else that doesn't have so many stupid pouring rules?!"
Aaron Goldfarb (@aarongoldfarb) is the author of The Guide for a Single Man and The Guide for a Single Woman.
https://www.esquire.com/food-drink/drinks/a33655/how-to-do-the-guinness-pour-problem/
