Craft beers vs "regular" beers

conorh91

There is some fitness "guru" on Newstalk radio occasionally, who comes out with statements on metabolism and health that strike me as illogical or doubtful.

One of them that I'm suspicious about, but would be interested in knowing the answer, is that craft beers are healthier than the more popular mainstream beers like Carlsberg, Corona, etc, on a per-unit basis.

I've tried locating answers online and can't find anything particularly reliable.

Can you suggest any physiological or biochemical reasons underlying his assertion that craft beers are healthier than normal beers on a per-unit basis?

quadrifoglio verde

conorh91 wrote: »

There is some fitness "guru" on Newstalk radio occasionally, who comes out with statements on metabolism and health that strike me as illogical or doubtful.

One of them that I'm suspicious about, but would be interested in knowing the answer, is that craft beers are healthier than the more popular mainstream beers like Carlsberg, Corona, etc, on a per-unit basis.

I've tried locating answers online and can't find anything particularly reliable.

Can you suggest any physiological or biochemical reasons underlying his assertion that craft beers are healthier than normal beers on a per-unit basis?

From my own personal experience, i don't drink craft beers to get pissed, whereas before with the macros, id have no problem downing 8 cans. Now it's one or two bottles as I'm not just drinking it for the effects of the alcohol, but the flavour and aroma as well. There's not much nicer than a nice hoppy DIPA on a summers evening or a milk stout in the winter.
But that's where it'd end, after 1 or two

Kurtosis

As far as I know, there isn't anything nutritionally that sets craft beers apart from mass produced ones. The only potential health benefit I can think of is that some craft breweries do not include additives in the brewing process so such craft beers may be "healthier" if one was concerned about exposure to these. The folks in Nutrition & Diet (subforum of Health & Fitness) or Beer & Wine & Spirits (subforum of Food & Drink) may be able to shed more light on this.

Frankie Lee

http://foodbabe.com/2013/07/17/the-shocking-ingredients-in-beer/

Somewhat decent article on the subject.

L1011

The per-unit element of this is important to note - your average Irish craft beer is >5% volume, the average macro is 3.8-4.3%. If there's a benefit / lower risk to craft, drinking the same overall amount of it is going to give you an appreciable amount more alcohol intake.

leeroybrown

It's as MYOB says. Irish craft beers are typically in the 5-5.5% range. It is of course a two edge sword. Someone who goes out and drinks one of these in a round with someone drinking standard beers will be consuming 15%+ more alcohol per round (until it catches up with them).

jh79

I would say no difference between the two.

If the number of units of alcohol are the same then the effects on your health will be the same. The effects of the alcohol will far outweigh the effects of any of the additives that may be present in the 'regular' beer.

quadrifoglio verde

leeroybrown wrote: »

It's as MYOB says. Irish craft beers are typically in the 5-5.5% range. It is of course a two edge sword. Someone who goes out and drinks one of these in a round with someone drinking standard beers will be consuming 15%+ more alcohol per round (until it catches up with them).

That's true, but from my own personal experiance you don't drink as many in a sitting. I've gone from doing what most young lads do when they're out, binge drinking, to having maybe 1 bottle of craft beer 3 nights a week and maybe two on the odd Saturday as opposed to 5-6 pints on a night out followed by 5 or 6 shots.

jh79

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

That's true, but from my own personal experiance you don't drink as many in a sitting. I've gone from doing what most young lads do when they're out, binge drinking, to having maybe 1 bottle of craft beer 3 nights a week and maybe two on the odd Saturday as opposed to 5-6 pints on a night out followed by 5 or 6 shots.

Could be because it generally appeals to an older crowd for whom binge drinking isn't as easy as it used to be.

Have heard bar staff in craft beer pubs say to new customers that craft beer doesn't contain any "nasty chemicals" ignoring the fact that alcohol can be a pretty nasty chemical.

conorh91

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

That's true, but from my own personal experiance you don't drink as many in a sitting. I've gone from doing what most young lads do when they're out, binge drinking, to having maybe 1 bottle of craft beer 3 nights a week and maybe two on the odd Saturday as opposed to 5-6 pints on a night out followed by 5 or 6 shots.

Yeah I appreciate that, but that's why I'm specifically asking about comparisons on an individual basis, i.e. 1 bottle of craft beer vs 1 bottle of standard beer.

Although I agree with the suggestion that craft beers are usually tastier, and that you're less likely to go on a craft-beer bender, I cannot find any evidence that they are healthier on a comparable basis.

For now, I think this belongs on the "health myths" list.

jh79

conorh91 wrote: »

Yeah I appreciate that, but that's why I'm specifically asking about comparisons on an individual basis, i.e. 1 bottle of craft beer vs 1 bottle of standard beer.

Although I agree with the suggestion that craft beers are usually tastier, and that you're less likely to go on a craft-beer bender, I cannot find any evidence that they are healthier on a comparable basis.

For now, I think this belongs on the "health myths" list.

On a single bottle basis neither would be unhealthy.

Mrs OBumble

Price.

Craft beers cost more, so people can afford to drink less of them.

Leads to more responsible drinking overall.

conorh91

jh79 wrote: »

On a single bottle basis neither would be unhealthy.

Perhaps, but but that wasn't the question…

jh79

conorh91 wrote: »

Perhaps, but but that wasn't the question…

Your question really can't be answered, a single bottle of each would have no effect on your health in any way making it impossible to deem one healthier than the other.

Kurtosis

jh79 wrote: »

Your question really can't be answered, a single bottle of each would have no effect on your health in any way making it impossible to deem one healthier than the other.

I think the OP might mean comparing craft beer with the same amount of equal strength normal beer.

jh79

penguin88 wrote: »

I think the OP might mean comparing craft beer with the same amount of equal strength normal beer.

I know but a single bottle of beer isn't enough to have any effect so you can't say one is better than the other.

A glass of coke is just as healthy as a glass of water for example.

If you had 10 pints of craft beer v regular beer the effects on your health would be the same too. The most toxic substance in beer is the alcohol the additives in regular beer are the least of your worries.

HeadPig

jh79 wrote: »

I know but a single bottle of beer isn't enough to have any effect so you can't say one is better than the other.

A glass of coke is just as healthy as a glass of water for example.

If you had 10 pints of craft beer v regular beer the effects on your health would be the same too. The most toxic substance in beer is the alcohol the additives in regular beer are the least of your worries.

wut

Kurtosis

jh79 wrote: »

I know but a single bottle of beer isn't enough to have any effect so you can't say one is better than the other.

A glass of coke is just as healthy as a glass of water for example.

If you had 10 pints of craft beer v regular beer the effects on your health would be the same too. The most toxic substance in beer is the alcohol the additives in regular beer are the least of your worries.

I don't think anyone is concerned with the effect of a single bottle of craft beer vs regular beer. Likewise one glass of coke instead of water may not make much difference, but what about 1.5l of coke daily instead of water.

The question is would switching from consuming regular beer to craft beer on a like for like basis provide any health benefits i.e. any nutritional advantage, exposure to fewer additives (assuming equal alcohol content) and the answer appears to be no.

jh79

HeadPig wrote: »

wut

A single glass of coke would do you no harm so is no more unhealthy than a glass of water. All depends on the amount you consume below a certain quantity coke is perfectly healthy.

HeadPig

jh79 wrote: »

A single glass of coke would do you no harm so is no more unhealthy than a glass of water. All depends on the amount you consume below a certain quantity coke is perfectly healthy.

Silly, irrelevant and pedantic rationale, by that logic everything is fine as long as you only have it once, ever. Nobody just has one glass of coke and then never drinks it again. The topic is about regular consumption of one type of beer vs another.

For what it's worth, it's complete bunkum that craft beer is better for you than regular beer.

jh79

HeadPig wrote: »

Silly, irrelevant and pedantic rationale, by that logic everything is fine as long as you only have it once, ever. Nobody just has one glass of coke and then never drinks it again. The topic is about regular consumption of one type of beer vs another.

For what it's worth, it's complete bunkum that craft beer is better for you than regular beer.

Even the regular consumption of coke is perfectly healthy if it is not excessive.

It is not a silly rational , with any substance that has the potential to damage your health the amount you consume is the most important factor not the fact that you do consume it.

conorh91

jh79 wrote: »

A single glass of coke would do you no harm so is no more unhealthy than a glass of water. All depends on the amount you consume below a certain quantity coke is perfectly healthy.

Ok since we're being maximally pedantic on this, I am amending my question to mean "1 bottle of craft beer vs 1 bottle of standard beer, consumed at or marginally above the average weekly allowance for an adult male, over time"

Sorry if this wasn't blatantly obvious.

HeadPig

conorh91 wrote: »

Ok since we're being maximally pedantic on this, I am amending my question to mean "1 bottle of craft beer vs 1 bottle of standard beer, consumed at or marginally above the average weekly allowance for an adult male, over time"

Sorry if this wasn't blatantly obvious.

No evidence for superiority of craft beer in any way, shape or form. Irritating and unfounded claim. Glad I didn't hear him on newstalk.

just-joe

This question is very interesting and I would like to know the answer but so far the answers have been completely ridiculous, not addressing the actual question and leading things in the wrong direction.

I have no deep knowledge but I imagine one bottle of craft beer would be more healthy than the regular stuff in the same respect that real butter might be more healthy than mass-produced spread. Less chemicals and additives and sweeteners and bad stuff. (as someone has already suggested). Difference must be minimal if only a one bottle basis.

And in my opinion no, coke is not healthy whatsoever it must be one of the most unhealthy products you can pick up in a shop. Do I drink it every once in a while? Yes. Will it kill you? No. But is it in any healthy, or not unhealthy? No. It is awful stuff.

Western people thinking coke is not that unhealthy is why they are overweight.