O beer, why art thou misjudged?

O beer, why art thou so misconceived? Yet you have so many benefits. I am particularly disturbed because many that would have benefitted from your many rich micro-nutrients are avoiding you erroneously, or rather, ignorantly. To even make matters worse, anyone associated with you, is treated with disdain, especially by religious people as “candidate for hell”. Almost all life’s negatives have been associated with you, whereas, they are all sheer misconceptions. I ask again, why art thou misjudged? 

You have been accused as a fattener and that you give pot-belly. Some said you are a processed drink with so many chemical additives. Infact, a “graduate” friend was denigrating you, (ostensibly out of ignorance) that “the cubes of sugar in any 60cl bottle of beer are about 13”. Wherever he got that from still marvels me. Equally, in the cause of entertaining the public, movie practitioners have over the years unjustly portrayed you as the cause of accidents, and labeled you a promoter of violence. Most misbehaviours are associated with you as well as weak character displays. Some even said you are not good for “old people” and that it is an abomination for female homo-sapiens to consume you. Some have rejected you as not good with food amongst many other misconceptions. You alone?

But how can one explain your innocence to them that like many other good things in life; it is only when abused that you may become “dangerous”. Let me talk a little extensively on water which is perhaps the last thing many would believe could do one any harm. Even the legendary Afrobeat maestro Fela Anikulapo-Kuti confirmed that “Water no get enemy” in one of his songs. Still “water abusers” who have “escaped death” have continuously shared their near death experiences with this same water that “has no enemy”. 

I am emphasizing on water because it is a common place to see expression of disbelief and disgust on people’s faces when one says “too much of water is bad”.

Agreed, water is world’s best fluid, but like you beer, it must be taken in moderation for the benefits to be maximized.The World Health Organization (WHO) and many dietetic associations recommend that the average 60kg adult drinks 1.5 and 2 litres of water a day, to reduce the risk of urinary infections, kidney stones and bladder cancer. We also know that water is good for the skin as well as helps take care of dehydration. But abuse it and tell your story!

In 2011, the Daily Mail, UK newspaper reported how one Joanne Jarvis, a then 25 years PR manager from East London, narrowly escaped death for guzzling up to six litres of water a day. According to Jarvis, “Colleagues can set their watches by me. Every 20 minutes or so, I’ll pause what I am doing, get up from my desk and go to the ladies. During an eight-hour working day, it’s a trip I’ll make more than 16 times” The reason she said “because I take up to six litres of water a day”. If you think that this discomfort isn’t a challenge enough, read the real trouble as Jarvis continued her “Aquaholism”. She said “I started to feel really peculiar. My heart was pounding, my breath was shallow and I couldn’t think straight…My colleagues commented that I looked terrible, with dark circles under my eyes”.

As it gets worse, she was ferried to the hospital and was immediately hooked to an ECG Scan which showed that her heart rate was racing and skipping, and a  blood test showed that the levels of electrolytes in her body-(the chemicals in the bloodstream that regulate all important bodily functions)- were dangerously low. Simply put, the chemicals in the bloodstream, including sodium, were diluted because of too much water, and it affected her health. This is the same water that we all cannot do without. This is the same water that is life. Yes water, the one that has no enemy.

Again, we know that food is good; but it affects one’s health when consumed in excess. We know how necessary and refreshing sleep is; it is good; but you also know that too much of it could expose one to the risk of depression; could impair the brain, increase the diabetes risk, can hurt the heart and you know what? Sleep can make one poor! (Read Proverbs 20:13 in any Bible to confirm this). The same goes for the good “medicine” that cures; try abusing it, when you survive it, your experience could be a “best-seller”

So why would one person somewhere abuse “Beer”, and like water, food, sleep and medicine, it reacts, and it is labeled “a crime”. That’s quite unfortunate. Even major religions that have been finding it difficult to agree on who is the real “messiah” or “prophet” of God have been unanimous in their misjudgment of “Beer”, advocating complete abstention even when the Bible acknowledged the many health benefits of beer and admonished in 1st Timothy 5 vs. 23 that it should be taken alongside water, but in moderation.

Though I am not advocating for you as it were, I am just pained that this misconception is getting overboard thereby denying the uninformed of your many benefits. I agree that there is nothing wrong with “beer”, but its abuse.

Thanks to the sincere “BEER and Life-style Symposium” programme   organized by Nigeria Breweries Plc in November in Lagos. I used the word “sincere” because “sincerity” was conspicuous in every step of the programme. Or how-else would one explain the company’s Senior Strategy Manager, Mr. Tony Agenmonmen, screaming “moderation, moderation, moderation” during his presentation-“It Is All About Moderation”. Or wouldn’t it be better he increased the “beer sales” of his company by encouraging “more consumption”? Even an excerpt of Jean-François van Boxmeer, HEINEKEN’s Chairman and CEO’s thought that was read in the programme spoke volume of the company’s commitment to offering good health to its products consumers, saying “Whilst beer is part of our culture, and it’s healthy to drink in moderation, it’s important to make the point that misuse of alcohol is not cool.”

However, at the well-attended programme, speakers after speaker shared objectively the Positive Story of Beer. Perhaps because one of the speakers, ‘Tola Atinmo, a Professor of Human Nutrition from the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, is a Christian and a Knight of John Wesley of the Methodist Church, I took special interest in his presentation, albeit like I did in other  presentations.  He said amongst other things that “Many people are not aware that while imbibing beer, they actually benefit their health through some of the components present in beer”.

In the coming weeks on this column, I will be reeling out the health benefits of moderate consumption of Beer. But it is good I counter my “graduate” friend’s claim that Beer is “chemicalised”. Beer, no matter the type is made from four natural ingredients- 1. Barley/Sorghum (for most Nigeria beer) or any cereal, 2. Hops, 3. Water (about 92 to 93%) and 4.Yeast. No chemical or cubes of sugar at all. But look through any of these ingredients and imagine their benefits to the body. So why the misconception? I rather advocate that we drink moderately and responsively than promoting “misconceptions.

Arinze Okamelu