Nitrates in Beer?

My wife was watching Dr. Oz and he had a couple guests talking about nitrates and how they can affect insulin the brain and be a contributor to getting Alzheimer's.

Huh?!?!? Nitrates in beer? They said they were in the older "processed" beer, and now most of the beer companies have "cleaned most of them up". Since there are no mandates on ingredients on beer, they don't need to say which ones have the nitrates.

Where would the nitrates come from? The only thing I can think of is smoked beer. Any ideas where the nitrates would come from?

If nothing else, it gives me more reasons to brew my own beer - I know there aren't nitrates are mine!

not 100% sure, but i'm fairly certain there are no nitrates in beer.

I wouldn't worry too much about what Dr. Oz says...

If you're worried about toxins in your beer, cirrhosis seems more dangerous and likely. Nitrates might be in cheapo beer, to help the shelf-life. I'd be amazed if any craft brewers used them.

theredben said:

I wouldn't worry too much about what Dr. Oz says...

Click to expand...

That would be MY advice. I asked one of the docs here in the ER if they had ever heard of such -and the only question one asked me back was "where would they come from?" Besides, if there WERE any in beer, I expect the yeast would gobble 'em up for use in their metabolism. Only place I could imagine they might come from would be hops, but that seems a bit far fetched. Personally I think the guy is off his rocker or trying to create a little ratings for himself or something.
Unless you go putting fertilizer in your beer, I doubt that even the minute amount that would possibly be in there would be irrelevant anyway.
Heck, there are many other things that are going to have nitrates in them that you probably eat.

The benefits of beer FAR outweigh the negatives IMHO.

Sodium Nitrate is used as a preservative in certain foods. I see it most commonly in Deli meats or dry cured meats. It was probably used years ago (50-70 years?) before pasteurization and other sanitary industrial machinery because cheaper and more common. This is a total guess though since I don't particularly have any knowledge of how beer was 'manufactured' years ago. They probably added sodium nitrate to beer since it was a preservative in so many other foods at the time. I don't think it would be added to any beers today. If it were to be in any beer, it would probably be mass produced (Read: BMC) but its not needed due to pasteurization and canning. Actually, i bet some factory in China or Asia some where that probably still produces a cheap beer with Nitrates. In terms of carcinogens in beer, I think alcohol is the only one

sounds reasonable to me.
And I don't drink Chinese beer because of the lead and mold contents -they provide way too many 'off-flavors' in the beer!

Nitrates are a typical water contaminant in agricultural areas where animal waste and fertilizer by-products can infiltrate. The EPA limit for nitrates in drinking water is 10 ppm. Above that limit, infants drinking anything made with that water are at risk since their gut cannot metabolize the nitrate. For children and adults, there is less concern.

Making beer with source water with high nitrates will convey that into the finished product. RO systems will remove nitrate from the water.

theredben said:

I wouldn't worry too much about what Dr. Oz says...

Click to expand...

Agreed. Dr. Oz is nothing but a TV doc that gets ratings by fear mongering.

The only show Dr. Oz belongs on is general hospital

The middle school I attended years ago had signs on the water fountains stating nitrates were greater than 50 ppm, and that pregnant women and young children should not drink from them.

Nitrates are hardly much concern, especially in public water systems.

mabrungard said:

Nitrates are a typical water contaminant in agricultural areas where animal waste and fertilizer by-products can infiltrate. The EPA limit for nitrates in drinking water is 10 ppm. Above that limit, infants drinking anything made with that water are at risk since their gut cannot metabolize the nitrate. For children and adults, there is less concern.

Making beer with source water with high nitrates will convey that into the finished product. RO systems will remove nitrate from the water.

Click to expand...

i would also assume that what ever ingredients the beer as made from would contain nitrates from the fertilizers etc.

The water supply thing makes sense to me. Maybe that's what they were referring to.

I could really care less about defending Dr. Oz, but I really do like how he breaks down medical knowledge into simple terms and visuals. The fact is, we are an EXTREMELY unhealthy nation and we are getting fatter even as there are more and more "low fat" and "diet" foods. I like that people watch him and may take away a healthy habit or two.

Knowledge is good. I don't fear what he says.......

Wow did I ever move this thing off topic!

Kayos said:

The water supply thing makes sense to me. Maybe that's what they were referring to.

I could really care less about defending Dr. Oz, but I really do like how he breaks down medical knowledge into simple terms and visuals. The fact is, we are an EXTREMELY unhealthy nation and we are getting fatter even as there are more and more "low fat" and "diet" foods. I like that people watch him and may take away a healthy habit or two.

Knowledge is good. I don't fear what he says.......

Wow did I ever move this thing off topic!

Click to expand...

So I'm guessing he hasn't done an episode of the dangers of sticking things in electrical outlets yet?

America's problem isn't weight, it's a combination of ignorance and a sedentary lifestyle (laziness) which leads to weight gain.

Most fat people I know aren't happy being fat, but it's too much work to lose the weight, so they don't, until they have a heart attack at 30.

Nitrates are in differing quantities in all water. Some higher than others to the point of pollution. Nitrates generally can come from commercial fertilizers applied to farming ground or lawns in the form of nitrogen. They seep into sandy soils and enter the aquifer below. If you are using pumped water for making beer it could contain levels of nitrates that are beyond legal standards for drinking water. It is unknown what the health consequences of water high in nitrates are. Boiling water only concentrates them. Reverse osmossis system is the only way to rid water of nitrates.

As someone who uses nitrates regularly, for my bacon not my beer, I wanted to point out that one of the largest sources of nitrates in the average diet is vegetables.

ShootsNRoots said:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/urea-carcinogen-precursor-419091/

Click to expand...

We've created a monster.

El oh el. Dr. Oz.

Every time I hear about something from that show, I feel like I've lost a few IQ points. There was an episode where he recommended that people replace the milk in their coffee with whipping cream. His defence of that was that milk has too much sugar and you're better off having fat than sugar (disregarding the fact that whipping cream nearly as much sugar as milk with 20x the fat). I suspect that it was a ploy by the milk industry to sell more expensive whipping cream to the masses.

In on this necro thread!

The day Dr. Oz says "Turn off my show right now, and get off your arse and go exercise" is they day I start watching Dr. Oz...