A night on the town

Its official – beer is good for you, or so say scientists from the University of California who have discovered the alcoholic beverage is a significant source of dietary silicon.

For the boozy study, researchers from the department of Food Science & Technology examined commercial beer production to determine the relationship between beer production methods and the resulting silicon content.

“The factors in brewing that influence silicon levels in beer have not been extensively studied,” said Dr Charles Bamforth, lead author of the study. “We have examined a wide range of beer styles for their silicon content and have also studied the impact of raw materials and the brewing process on the quantities of silicon that enter wort and beer.”

Beers contain silicon in the form of soluble orthosilicic acid, which may be important for the growth and development of bone and connective tissues. Some studies suggest moderate consumption of the intoxicating tipple may help fight osteoporosis.

“Beers containing high levels of malted barley and hops are the richest in silicon,” said Bamforth, “While most of the silicon remains in the husk during brewing, significant quantities of silicon nonetheless are extracted into wort and much of this survives into beer.”

Silicon is found in high quantities in barley husks which are unaffected during the malting process. Pale coloured malts are subjected to much less heat stress during the malting process and contain higher quantities of silicon. Roasted barley and black malts tend to have lower silicon contents.

The hops samples analysed showed surprising results – they contained as much as four times more silicon than malts, but they are used in much smaller quantities.

The study tested 100 commercial beers for silicon content and categorised the data according to beer style and source. The average silicon content ranged from 6.4 to 56.5mg/L.