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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3408 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 12, 2023

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I've got a small-scale question about nutrition in the ancient world. Specifically, about beer.

Given how important beer was to a bunch of cultures, it seems odd that its benefits would be purely recreational, and given that making beer involves a lot more steps than just boiling water, it also seems odd that if the main advantage of beer was its relative sterility, people would have hit on just boiling water instead of malting grain, heating it at the right temperature, etc.

So, given that there are trace nutrients that you can't easily get in a pure-agrarian focused-on-single-grains society, especially if you're poor and don't eat a varied diet (which leads to pellagra and the like), and that at least some of those nutrients can be found in yeast, my question is this; was there enough nutrients in ancient beer to serve as actual nutritional supplements, with the actual gain being gotten from the yeast, not the alcohol?

If this were the case, then you'd presumably see a selection pressure in ancient civilizations that had less access to high-quality complete animal protein to develop alcohol tolerance, and civilizations that had constant ready access to it would have much less selection pressure.

Is there any research on this that anyone knows of?

Ancient beers were caloric and very high in B-Vitamins. Brewer’s yeast was the single most accessible and inexpensive B-Vitamin supplement in the ancient world by an order of magnitude. This was used to make unpasteurized beer. There are studies on malt showing that it healthier and less inflammatory than fructose. Next, ancient grains were higher in protein, fiber, magnesium and so forth. Long-chain fibers which you’d find in ancient grain are one of the best prebiotics for your microbiome. Beers in antiquity were fermented (probiotic) and packed rich prebiotics. The portability and shelf life is also of obvious importance.

Sorry, no sources. It’s actually really stupid that we haven’t continued drinking ancient beer. Made right it’s the single most nutritious thing you can drink.

Given all the various craft beer gimmicks out there, you'd think someone would make it (although you can't tout the health benefits anymore - "A Guinness for health" would have to have a footnote that there are no health claims proved by the FDA). I know Dogfish Head had their "Ancient Ales" series, where they tried to reconstruct some beers, but I've heard nothing about the health equivalent.

I was just thinking of Dogfishhead's ancient ales. I really liked the Midas Touched one.

I believe Trappist beers are the rough equivalent.

Hah, I should have thought of those. I'm now reminded (although it's not a Trappist style) of the fellow who tested the myth that monks sustained themselves entirely on Doppelbocks (and no food) during Lent. Apparently he wound up in good health after 40 days.

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