Can You Live off of the Vitamins and Protein in Beer?
by Matthew Lee, Demand Media
Beer contains very little protein.
With varieties including dark, thick porters and stouts, light, yellowish lagers and the numerous colors and flavors of fruit beers, there is a beer to suit almost anyone's tastes. In addition, beer is lower in alcohol and more nutrient-dense than most alcoholic beverages. However, beer is neither a healthy nor realistic option for meeting your daily needs for protein or vitamins.
Protein
In its 2010 "Dietary Guidelines for Americans," the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends that 10 to 35 percent of your daily calories come from protein. On a 2,000-calorie diet, this amounts to 200 to 700 calories from protein each day. As there are 4 calories in 1 gram of protein, you need to eat between 50 and 175 grams of protein to meet your daily needs. Beer contains approximately 1.6 grams of protein in one can. This would require that you drink more than 30 cans per day to obtain a minimum amount of protein.
.. fluck that, too expensive ..
B Vitamins
All beers contain large amounts of B vitamins, with particularly high concentrations of vitamins B-3, B-6 and B-9. This comes from the yeast content of beer, with unfiltered beers containing higher concentrations of B complex vitamins. For example, one can of beer contains 12.6 percent of your daily vitamin B-6. As such, you can theoretically obtain all of your daily intake from eight cans of beer. However, as alcohol inhibits the absorption of numerous B vitamins, only non-alcoholic beers are good sources of these important nutrients.
.. sod!, that's even worse than expense ..
Other Micronutrients
Aside from the B-complex vitamins, beer does not contain significant amounts of any other vitamins. In addition, beer is not a particularly good source of most minerals. However, it contains sizable amounts of phosphorus and magnesium. For example, one can contains more than 7 percent of your daily phosphorus needs. As such, you can obtain all of your daily phosphorus by drinking slightly more than 14 cans of beer per day. However, as beer contains more phosphorus than any other mineral, you would need to drink many more cans each day to obtain significant amounts of other essential minerals.
.. still too expensive ..
Other Considerations
Excess consumption of alcohol is dangerous to your health, and also to your waistline. There are 4 calories in 1 gram of carbohydrates and 7 calories in 1 gram of alcohol. Of the 153 calories in one can of beer, nearly 100 come from alcohol. As you would need to drink at least eight cans of beer to meet your daily needs for protein or any micronutrient, this would result in approximately 800 calories per day coming from alcohol. In addition, the recommended daily consumption of alcohol is no more than one drink for women and one to two drinks for men. http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/can-live-off-vitamins-protein-beer-4960.html
lol, a friend yesterday at the pub felt weak and reckoned he was low on protein .. i said, hey, YOU have to eat properly .. he said, just give me another fucking beer .. i told him about the Austrian village ..
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
AI
