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A reader, Emma Calvert, a Senior Food Policy Officerfor the European Union in Brussels, sent me “this article.  She also pointed me to the article Food Navigator wrote about it: “Review hails health benefits of beer-gut alliance.”

Eager to find out what the “beer-gut alliance” might be, I went right to it.

The study: Beer-gut microbiome alliance: a discussion of beer-mediated immunomodulation via the gut microbiome.” Silu Zhang, Shuo Jin, Cui Zhang, Shumin Hu, Huajun Li.  Front. Nutr., 25 July 2023.  Volume 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2023.1186927

Background: “As a long-established fermented beverage, beer is rich in many essential amino acids, vitamins, trace elements, and bioactive substances that are involved in the regulation of many human physiological functions.  The polyphenols in the malt and hops of beer are also important active compounds that interact in both directions with the gut microbiome.”

Methods: “This review summarizes the mechanisms by which polyphenols, fiber, and other beneficial components of beer are fermentatively broken down by the intestinal microbiome to initiate the mucosal immune barrier and thus participate in immune regulation.”

Conclusion: “Beer degradation products have anti-inflammatory, anticoagulant, antioxidant, and glucolipid metabolism-modulating potential. ..The positive effects of bioactive substances in beer in cancer prevention, reduction of cardiovascular events, and modulation of metabolic syndrome make it one of the candidates for microecological modulators.”

Funding: “This study was supported by the Open Research Fund of State Key Laboratory of Biological Fermentation Engineering of Beer, under grant no. K202101.”

Conflict of interest: “CZ and SH were employed by Tsingtao Brewery Co. Ltd.  The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.”

Comment: This seems like a lot to claim for beer.  Vested interest?  Yes.  The State Key Beer Lab is part of the Tsingtao Brewery Co. Ltd, Qingdao, 266100, China and two of the authors work for the company.  Why do this study?  To distract attention from the harmful effects of alcohol consumption (where do I begin?) and from its calories, and instead give beer a health aura.

Beer, alas, is not a health food, best consumed in moderation if at all.

Sorry.

I’ve been collecting intriguing items about new foods and supplements, soon to be at a supermarket near you.

• Waffle House teams up with Georgia’s Oconee Brewing Company to produce a bacon-flavored beer:  Bacon and beer is a match made in heaven. Bacon beer, on the other hand, could be something even better.  Waffle House, the iconic restaurant chain, has teamed up with Georgia-based brewery Oconee Brewing Company to offer the first Waffle House-branded beer called Bacon & Kegs.
• A Gluten Free Oreo Is Finally Hitting Grocery Store Shelves in January.  I know you’ve been waiting for this.
• New Heat-Resistant Spirulina for Hard Candy.  Meet FruitMax^® Blue 1506, a unique spirulina-based liquid formulation designed for coloring hard candy and lozenges blue (patent pending) from natural sources. More robust and efficient compared to standard liquid spirulina products. It is heat and acid stable and doesn’t produce unwanted spots or cloudiness or lose its ability to color when in the challenging processing steps. It protects the color the instant it hits the very hot candy mass.
• Meat-Tech 3D expands cultured meat with printed tissue and acquisition: The publicly traded company based in Israel has its eyes on bringing technology to make 3D-printed cell-based meat available to the world as quickly as possible.
• PepsiCo launches sleep-aid drink Driftwell: The enhanced water, which will be sold first online starting in December, is designed to help stressed consumers relax and unwind before bed.
• Research method turns pig blood into protein powder for supplement use:  Researchers have released details of an intriguing new method to convert pig blood into a powder with 90% protein content that can be used as a supplement in a variety of foods…. Read more 
• Fermented pig placenta intake reduces fatigue by regulating inflammatory responses – LG Household & Health study:  An RCT [randomized controlled trial] involving healthy adults showed that the supplementation of fermented porcine (pig) placental extract could improve fatigue-related parameters…. Read more
• Ukraine is trying to reclaim Borscht, its famous beet soup that’s often attributed to Russian cuisine. The Eastern European country plans to ask the U.N.’s cultural body to list Borscht as part of its cultural heritage, The New York Times reports.

This is BeverageDaily.com’s monthly beer special, from the industry’s point of view.  If you don’t think of beer as an industry, think again.

• Flexible, diverse breweries are the way forward for small craft: The craft beer industry is navigating a more mature growth pattern in 2019: a theme that was explored at the 36th annual Craft Brewers Conference (CBC) in Denver… Read
• Outdoor clothing brand Patagonia sues Anheuser-Busch over ‘copycat’ beer brand: Outdoor clothing and gear brand Patagonia, Inc has filed a lawsuit against Anheuser-Busch: accusing the beer giant of ‘attempting to copy Patagonia’s famous brand identity’ with its Patagonia beer brand… Read
• Constellation Brands: ‘2019 sees a monumental shift for Corona as it expands into a more comprehensive beer family’:  Constellation Brands is expanding its core Corona brand with new launches that appeal to a wider range of consumers and occasions – including the nationwide US rollout this month of premium alcohol-spiked refresher Corona Refresca… Read
• ‘Probably not the best beer in the world – so we’ve changed it’: Carlsberg challenges drinkers to reappraise its beer: Carlsberg is relaunching in the UK with a rebrewed lager, accompanied by ‘its most honest consumer campaign ever’. Will its relaunch be able to shake up the mainstream – and can it encourage a new generation of drinkers to re-appraise its beer?.. Read
• US craft beer has settled into a ‘more mature growth pattern’: The Brewers Association (BA) released its annual growth report this week: showing craft brewery volumes have increased by 4% and now account for 13.2% of the US beer market… Read
• Samuel Adams Summer Ale gets first recipe change in 23 years: US brewer Samuel ‘Sam’ Adams has updated the formula of its seasonal favorite Summer Ale with ‘lighter and brighter’ flavors… Read
• New Zealand boasts more breweries per capita than the US, UK and Australia:  New Zealand now has more breweries on a per capita basis than the US, UK and Australia: creating a $2.3bn ($1.6bn USD) industry. And there’s still plenty of room to grow: “Highlighting our home-grown ingredients and locally produced products will go a long way to boost the overall New Zealand beer brand,” says The Brewers Association of New Zealand… Read
• Reshaping beer: Better labels, advanced branding tech and new bottle formats: Beer packaging has been a ‘sea of sameness’ for decades, according to glass container manufacturer O-I. Traditional amber glass bottles and aluminum cans covered in paper labels has been the norm, but the time may be ripe for a major change… Read
• Craft beer trends: ‘Huge growth’ in lower alcohol brews and beer in cans: The UK craft beer market is seeing ‘huge growth’ in cans and no & low alcohol beers, according to online craft beer distribution marketplace EeBriaTrade… Read
• Guinness stops using plastic packaging with its beer: Diageo’s beer brands will replace plastic ring carriers and shrink wrap with recyclable and biodegradable cardboard: the equivalent of removing 40 million plastic bottles from the world… Read
• Zero hero? Heineken wants no-alcohol beer to rival Coke in Singapore following Europe sales boom: Heineken’s new zero-alcohol beer Heineken 0.0 is the brand’s pioneering foray into the Low and No Alcohol (LNA) category in Singapore, with the firm targeting availability in locations such as salad bars, gyms and offices as it seeks to rival soft drinks giants such as Coca-Cola… Read
• Suntory Beer installs 3D printing technology to print images on beer: Suntory Beer has partnered with Ripples to roll out 700 Ripple Maker PM devices to print 3D images, emojis and messages onto beer… Read
• BrewDog acquires Berlin brewery and taproom from Stone Brewing: Scottish craft brewer BrewDog is acquiring Stone Brewing’s brewery and taproom in Berlin. It has also announced the latest round of Equity for Punks to fund its plans for a brewery in China and craft beer hotel in London… Read
• Lion acquires Magic Rock Brewing: Australian beer and beverage company Lion has acquired 100% of UK craft brewer Magic Rock Brewing Company, as it seeks to become ‘a key player’ in the UK craft market… Read
• Dunkin’ releases second beer innovation with Harpoon Brewery: Last fall Dunkin’ announced a limited edition partnership with Harpoon Brewery for its first-ever beer, the Harpoon Dunkin’ Coffee Porter. The two have teamed up again for a warm weather brew, the Harpoon Dunkin’ Summer Coffee Pale Ale. Dunkin’ also recently expanded its Signature Latte line with three permanent flavors… Read

And, thanks to reader Polly Adema, here is one more:

• Beer as a wellness beverage?  The mind boggles.

I am not a football fan and missed the Super Bowl but I gather it was a hotbed of food politics due to Bud Light’s Game of Thrones’ commercial accusing competitors of using—horrors—corn syrup in the brewing process.

To be clear, Bud Light is not brewed with corn syrup, and Miller Lite and Coors Light are. pic.twitter.com/x6tWqdSRXN

— Bud Light (@budlight) February 3, 2019

As Ed Mazza put it (Huffington Post), this has to be the weirdest twitter storm ever.   Corn growers and the Corn Refiners Association versus Bud Light?

Weird, indeed.  Who could possibly care?

Bud Light’s marketing people, I guess.

They love the fuss, and put a full page ad in the New York Times to celebrate.

It says “In the Bud Light Kingdom we love corn too! Corn on the cob, corn bread, popcorn—( just don’t brew with the syrup (what you also call ‘dextrose’)…But, even though corn syrup is less expensive, we brew with rice, along with the finest hops, barley, and water, because I’m the King and it’s not my job to save money.”

Oh please.

To make beer, you need yeast.  To get yeast to grow, you have to feed them some kind of sugar.  This could be corn syrup (corn glucose is called dextrose), some other glucose-containing sugar like high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) or sucrose, rice (yeast converts its starch to glucose, or barley treated to convert its starch to maltose (two glucose molecules bonded together) and then to glucose.  Regardless of the source of glucose, yeast metabolizes it to alcohol and characteristic flavor components.

I imagine that adding a bit of corn syrup speeds up the process, but so what?  Bud Light wants you to think that using rice instead of corn syrup makes it better than other beers.

I’m not much of a beer drinker, so I leave that one up to you.

This is about playing on public distrust of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) which isn’t even at issue here.

The real problem with corn syrup.  The Corn Refiners Association, which pushes it and HFCS.

We would all be better off eating less sugar(s) of any kind, no matter where they come from.

The documents (thanks largely to The Hagstrom Report)

• New Food Economy
• National Corn Growers Association’s tweet
• Forbes – “Corn syrup: How Bud Light made it a Super Bowl battle”
• Fortune – “’Disappointed in You’: Corn Farmers Were Not Amused With Bud Light’s Super Bowl Commercial”
• People – “Miller Lite claps back at Bud Light’s ‘unfortunate’ corn syrup Super Bowl ad”
• CNBC – “Beware of corn syrup? Bud Light Super Bowl ad shames Miller Lite, Coors Light for using it, but dietitians say it’s not that bad”