It is often an argument made in jest by those keen to stay at the pub for one more pint.
But new findings suggest beer may actually provide some nutritional benefits – as a source of vitamin B.
A team of researchers from Germany – one of Europe’s biggest beer-drinking nations – set out to discover what vitamins and minerals could be found in the beverage.
And they uncovered that many of beer’s key ingredients – such as barley, wheat and brewer’s yeast – contain Vitamin B6 which the body uses to extract and store energy from food, and enables red blood cells to carry oxygen.
However, the results, published in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, are unlikely to strengthen the case for drinking more alcohol as alcohol-free lagers were found to contain similar levels of Vitamin B6.
The authors said: ‘Vitamin B6 is an essential cofactor of numerous enzymes, and beer may contribute substantially to its dietary intake.’
To conduct their analysis, the researchers purchased 65 different types of beers from supermarkets in Germany for analysis.
These included lager, alcohol-free lager, unfiltered lager, dark lager, wheat beer, alcohol-free wheat beer, pilsner, bock beer and rice beer.
New findings suggest beer may provide some nutritional benefits – as it is a source of vitamin B
The winner – by a long-shot – for vitamin B6 content was bock beer, which the researchers found contained 808.2 micrograms per litre (μg/L).
Bock beer is sold in the UK but it is traditionally a German form of the beverage. Super Bock, a Portuguese-made beer, is also common in Britain.
Vitamin B6 is typically consumed through foods like pork, chicken, turkey, fish, nuts, beans, oats, bananas and milk.
The NHS recommends that men aged 19 to 64 get around 1.4 milligrams (mg) of vitamin B6 a day, while women of the same age should get 1.2mg.
As 1mg equals 1,000 micrograms, a litre of bock beer would contain around 0.8mg of vitamin B6 – meaning two litres, or around three-and-a-half pints – would exceed the recommended daily intake.
In the study, coming second to bock beer was dark lager, followed by unfiltered lager, standard lager and pilsner – all of which contained more than 500 μg/L
Alcohol-free lager came next with 461.8 μg/L of vitamin B6, a level similar to wheat beer.
Meanwhile, alcohol-free wheat beer contained 342.5 μg/L.
In last place by some distance behind the rest was rice beer, with just 185.3 μg/L of vitamin B6.
| Beer type | Average total B6 (micrograms per litre) |
|---|---|
| Bock beer | 808.2 |
| Dark lager | 601.8 |
| Unfiltered lager | 544.6 |
| Lager | 515.0 |
| Pilsner | 507.1 |
| Alcohol-free lager | 461.8 |
| Wheat beer | 424.6 |
| Alcohol-free wheat beer | 342.5 |
| Rice beer | 185.3 |
Authors of the study say their findings ‘proves evidently that beer brewed from barley has significantly higher overall B6 contents’.
They also highlighted particular interest in the alcohol-free beer results.
They said: ‘While the intake of alcohol-free beer is significantly lower, its consumption could contribute to the overall vitamin B6 uptake, as it is not subject to any limitation of alcohol intake.’
A poll revealed last year that the rise in low and no alcohol beers was gripping Britain.
It was found that the trend was largely driven by younger adults, who are most likely to embrace sobriety throughout the year.
Almost four in ten UK drinkers (38 per cent) were found to be consuming low and no alcohol alternatives regularly or occasionally in UK, up from 29 per cent in 2022.
The most popular reason for avoiding a full-strength beverage was so that they could drive home from social events (28 per cent), the poll of 2081 adults revealed.
Matt Lambert, chief executive of the Portman Group, said: ‘It’s fantastic to see low and no alternatives continuing to soar in popularity, while helping to encourage more mindful and moderate consumption among UK alcohol drinkers.
‘We welcome the drinks and hospitality industry continuing to work together to increase choice, availability and visibility of low and no alcohol alternatives, and we continue to urge the UK government to provide us with the outcome of the recent consultation on low alcohol descriptors which will further facilitate growth of the UK low and no alcohol market.’
