Does Homebrew Boost Immunity?

Currently, my wife and both of our kids are struggling through common colds, of presumably the same rhinovirus strain. I’m known for getting 2-4 colds per year, usually with the changing of each season, or whenever I come into close proximity with someone who has a cold. Except for the last year. While I’ve been brewing for awhile, I’ve only had a constantly full kegerator since January 2012… and that’s truly the time I recall catching a cold (knocking on wood as I type this). Part of the reason I think it might be associate with homebrewed beer and not commercial is because I’ve always drank commercial beer, even when I was catching a few colds per year. Ever since building my kegerator and brewing larger batches (to build up the pipeline), I consume approximately 1 to 2 pints of my own homemade beer per work night, and a, ahem, tad more over the weekends. This research article found that wine, particularly of the red variety, “may have a protective effect against common cold.” While similar effects were not found for beer drinkers, I wonder if that has to do with the fact most commercial beer is filtered, potentially stripping out any cold-busting elements. Perhaps this sounds far-fetched and totally anecdotal, but I’m telling you, since my beer consumption has switched from mostly commercial to almost totally homemade, I have not experienced anywhere near as much illness. Another example: a week ago both my wife and daughter contracted a stomach bug- juicy out of both ends for 18+ hours. I was fine, despite my physical closeness to both of them. Hmm…



Anyone else out there experience something similar?

Woops... here's the link to the abstract of the article I referred to: http://m.aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/155/9/853.fu

Wine is similarly filtered, so I don't suspect it's that. I haven't noticed any change in my general health apart from massive weight gain which is only partially due to my beer intake.

I think most of these statistics are just people looking at groups of people and finding something that they can say is numerically out of the norm.

You could take left handed people and go disease by disease ( cold, flu, cancer, whatever ) and through random chance you will find things like left handed people have a 5 or 10 percent higher or lower instance of whatever.

People being paid to pour through the numbers and look for things that don't fit. Never attributing it to random acts of the universe.

Since hops is a natural preservative, theoretically if you injected enough beer directly into your bloodstream, you wouldn't have to worry about getting sick ever again!

Brewer's yeast is often used as a source of B-complex vitamins, chromium, and selenium. The B-complex vitamins in brewer's yeast include B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), B5 (pantothenic acid), B6 (pyridoxine), B9 (folic acid), and H or B7 (biotin). These vitamins help break down carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, which provide the body with energy. They also support the nervous system, help maintain the muscles used for digestion, and keep skin, hair, eyes, mouth, and liver healthy.

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/brewers-yeast-000288.htm#ixzz2CLLlZybw

I agree it is a kind of "dumb luck" thing, but I have also noticed that since I switched to drinking both my own beer and only micros that I have been sick far less.

I also attribute it to having dropped about 60lbs currently and switching from a sedintary lifestyle to a far more active lifestyle and a big change in eating habits which probably has a lot more to do with it than the style of beer I drink occasionaly.

At a pretty awesome and really small brewery back in MA, there was a worker who consumed plenty of craft unfiltered brew daily. To the point of him being buzzed continuously. Never a day sick since he started doing that. One week he quit drinking, came down with a cold, flu, sore throat etc etc. Went back to the beer and was totally fine again.

Coincidence? I think not. Reason to drink that much? I also think not. But as the saying goes: "Having a homebrew or two, will keep the doc away from you"

..yeah I did just make that up but it sure sounds good yeah?

This forum is enough scientific evidence for me to consume a couple beers a day. Apart from that, I haven't noticed much difference since switching over to predominately home brewed beer. Like others, I am in very great shape and tend to force myself to eat healthy most of the time (it gives me calories to consume on beer). And I believe that is more important than anything else.

But this is great stuff all the same!

The B vitamins enhances your health and thus your imunity. So drink up. God made beer and beer is here. So drink it!

I swear and tell people often that anytime I take a few days or week off from drinking my homebrew I catch a cold. Has happened multiple times.

I have only had one sick day in probably 17 years, and beer is part of my diet.

Plus, alcohol can lower stress levels and reduced stress boosts the immune system.

Homebrew has had quite the opposite affect on me. At a typical 7%, I find myself feeling lightheaded and euphoric more often than not. I have also formed severeal forms of OCD, beginning with a need to sanitize most everything I come in contact with.

maddad said:

Homebrew has had quite the opposite affect on me. At a typical 7%, I find myself feeling lightheaded and euphoric more often than not. I have also formed severeal forms of OCD, beginning with a need to sanitize most everything I come in contact with.

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And what is wrong with that??:fro:

Homebrew definitely boosts immunity.

Drink enough of it and you'll be immune to pain.

Yes....homebrew make you invincible. Hope your family is feeling better.

There are many known medical benefits of drinking moderate amounts of alcohol. Unfortunately, the increase in consumption of alcohol also presents increased resk of alcoholism. Therefore, the medical does not and most likely will never discuss these benefits openly.

Well, as my family lie in bed working through their colds, I'm up and ready go, clear headed as ever and planning to brew this weekend. I'll blame it on the homebrew, despite the lack of scientific proof... this is Uhhmerica after all

Although this is the definition of anecdotal, all I know is that I have not taken a sick day in at least 4 years, probably longer. I never, ever get the flu (no flu shots either) and rarely even get colds, despite having 2 small children. My wife is currently sick as a dog and somehow I know I won't catch her severe head cold. Weird.

mccabedoug said:

Although this is the definition of anecdotal, all I know is that I have not taken a sick day in at least 4 years, probably longer. I never, ever get the flu (no flu shots either) and rarely even get colds, despite having 2 small children. My wife is currently sick as a dog and somehow I know I won't catch her severe head cold. Weird.

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I'm telling you!

Someone with a medical background correct me im wrong, but since the cold is a virus, once you're exposed, you have it, correct? And once you have it (a benign virus that doesn't harm you), your body freaks out and goes into repel mode and causes all of the symptoms. Taking vitamins during a cold boosts your symptoms via your immune system (since the symptoms are your body fighting the cold), so your body can flush it out faster. My point being, you cant 'prevent' a cold via substances; if you touch a doorknob with the cold virus, and the rub your eye, you have it. The vitamins are just going to help process the virus quicker. This makes sense to me based on what I know, but again, I do not have my doctorate.

william_shakes_beer said:

There are many known medical benefits of drinking moderate amounts of alcohol. Unfortunately, the increase in consumption of alcohol also presents increased resk of alcoholism. Therefore, the medical does not and most likely will never discuss these benefits openly.

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My caregiver at the VA unofficially recommended I consume a glass of red wine daily to assist in controlling my cholesterol. Her comment was "from the studies she has read it can't hurt, just don't over indulge!"

Subsailor said:

My caregiver at the VA unofficially recommended I consume a glass of red wine daily to assist in controlling my cholesterol. Her comment was "from the studies she has read it can't hurt, just don't over indulge!"

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Yup, when I began cardiac rehab they checked my cholesterol and the recommendation was 2 drinks a day, a drink being 1 shot of liquor, one glass of wine (4 oz I think?) or 1 12oz beer.

Revvy said:

Yup, when I began cardiac rehab they checked my cholesterol and the recommendation was 2 drinks a day, a drink being 1 shot of liquor, one glass of wine (4 oz I think?) or 1 12oz beer.

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had to force yerself to listen to that doc advice, eh revvy?

my mom's boyfriend was recommended 2 drinks a day after his heart surgery/rehab as well.

i can't speak to the science behind it at all, but my stomach problems don't feel nearly as severe since homebrew happened. maybe it's a placebo, but it's a tasty placebo.

Chipman said:

At a pretty awesome and really small brewery back in MA, there was a worker who consumed plenty of craft unfiltered brew daily. To the point of him being buzzed continuously. Never a day sick since he started doing that. One week he quit drinking, came down with a cold, flu, sore throat etc etc. Went back to the beer and was totally fine again.

Coincidence? I think not. Reason to drink that much? I also think not. But as the saying goes: "Having a homebrew or two, will keep the doc away from you"

..yeah I did just make that up but it sure sounds good yeah?

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I was gonna guess withdrawals.

Ohhhhhhhh boy... my throat is starting to feel a little scratchy and my nose a tad stuffy... ****

It boosts my immunity against ****ty beer.

RainyDay said:

Someone with a medical background correct me im wrong, but since the cold is a virus, once you're exposed, you have it, correct? And once you have it (a benign virus that doesn't harm you), your body freaks out and goes into repel mode and causes all of the symptoms. Taking vitamins during a cold boosts your symptoms via your immune system (since the symptoms are your body fighting the cold), so your body can flush it out faster. My point being, you cant 'prevent' a cold via substances; if you touch a doorknob with the cold virus, and the rub your eye, you have it. The vitamins are just going to help process the virus quicker. This makes sense to me based on what I know, but again, I do not have my doctorate.

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The virus does harm your body, hence the immune response. Just ask someone in an immunocompromised position about how scary getting a common cold can be. Viruses hijack the machinery within a cell to produce more viruses. Vitamins simply ensure that your body has every resource available to mount an immune response to destroy the viruses and infected cells. The "freaking out" you refer to is more in line with an allergic reaction where the body mounts an immune response to an antigen which is otherwise benign, such as pollen or pet dander. Running a fever creates conditions less ideal for viral replication. The malaise and achy feeling are usually a result of the body re-allocating resources to support the immune system in attacking the pathogen.

Brulosopher said:

Ohhhhhhhh boy... my throat is starting to feel a little scratchy and my nose a tad stuffy... ****

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Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Quick! Guzzle some homebrew!

dbsmith said:

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Quick! Guzzle some homebrew!

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I have been, all day...

Start watching this at 10:30 talking about the nutrients in beer and the discovery of tetracycline (Antibiotic) in Egyptian beer. While this video has points of humor it does have some great points in beer.

I'm currently a non traditional student earning my business admin mgt major degree and public health minor. Part of my rewuirments for my minor is hammering microbiology, epidemiology (study of epidemics) and other biology classes including science of brewing. When I have five PHD's from various fields of (Biochem, Chem, History, Bio Psychology, Physics) and all have been brewing since Jimmy Carter legalized it, I tend to believe they know there stuff when lecturing in my Brewing Science class.

Just because you come in contact with a virus, does not mean you will reproduce and take hold in your system. Your body has several lines of defenses starting with the ph balance of your skin. Not many people know this but virtually everyone has a flesh eating bacteria on them but it does not consume them because of the chemical balance of your skin. When your body has many of the necessary nutrients and exercising regularly can keep your immune system strong can help a lot in avoiding illness. Many people often contract illnesses more frequently from a weakened immune system due to unhealthy diets, eating habits and sanitation standards. Also if you have an antibiotic in your system or inflammation it causes a response from your immune system to react and eject the virus. So even if you do contract say the flu with an incubation period of 15 days before symptoms appear, your body can be fighting it while it is happening and can eject the virus before it makes it to the symptom phase or can reduce the symptom phase and move you to recovery faster. And if your body is generally healthy with the nutrients needed for quick recovery, you may hardly notice even though you may still be in a contagious stage for another week or two.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdwYjFnFoJU

If i'm not mistaken there was a study sometime back of a group of ancient skeletons that were glowing under blcak light. The bodies were examined and the found tetracyclin in the bones.
The only link the forensic cats could make was to beer yeast and high amounts of it.

cant rember where the article was for the life of me.

I honestly never get sick outside of stomach bugs, and there usually my fault [99c chicken yeah ill eat that!!, 2 days later im holding on to the toliet praying I dont get lift off].I may also have developed a gluten intolerence after my body detoxed during my long stint on the paleo-primal diet, but thats another story

I didn't read the article in any detail, but its not unusual to find that moderate drinking can have some benefits. The common one is that it reduces your chance of heart disease. There's the 'French Paradox' ,or something like that, in the case of red wine.

HOWEVER, a few downers: From your description it sounds like you're drinking more than what a medical scientist would call 'moderately'. A few pints a night with no rest days is probably more harm than good. Don't forget that ethanol is a carcinogen and a neurotoxin, whether we like it or not. Even if you're not noticing weight gain, that's not to say it isn't doing harm behind the scenes.

Secondly using yourself as an example is never good science. Anecdotal evidence can lead to people saying some silly things ("my aunt smoked until she was 90 and didn't get cancer. Ergo, smoking doesn't increase your risk of cancer").

Sorry to be the neggy one, I love booze as the next person (wouldn't HB if I didn't). But I treat drinking with due caution too.

Cold what’s a cold? I almost forget about them since moving to south Texas four years ago. But will probable get one now when I go home in December.

Lots of things have medicinal value. Personally, I find that I benefit most from yeast and garlic. (TIC) Seriously, yeast has great value for your health, as does garlic. I find hops to be an excellent sedative, and good sleep is great for your health.

Many things that were considered to be of great benefit in times past aren't touted today. How much of this is due to more refined production, preservatives and other enhancements is hard to say.

Personally, I like to think that most product improvements are not improvements in products, rather improvements in profits. This is why I brew my own beer, cure my own meats and grow my own fruits and vegetables. If i'm wrong, so what! The satisfaction I get from doing these things is worth being wrong.

Bob

Peppers16 said:

I didn't read the article in any detail, but its not unusual to find that moderate drinking can have some benefits. The common one is that it reduces your chance of heart disease. There's the 'French Paradox' ,or something like that, in the case of red wine.

HOWEVER, a few downers: From your description it sounds like you're drinking more than what a medical scientist would call 'moderately'. A few pints a night with no rest days is probably more harm than good. Don't forget that ethanol is a carcinogen and a neurotoxin, whether we like it or not. Even if you're not noticing weight gain, that's not to say it isn't doing harm behind the scenes.

Secondly using yourself as an example is never good science. Anecdotal evidence can lead to people saying some silly things ("my aunt smoked until she was 90 and didn't get cancer. Ergo, smoking doesn't increase your risk of cancer").

Sorry to be the neggy one, I love booze as the next person (wouldn't HB if I didn't). But I treat drinking with due caution too.

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Cheers! My post was at least half tongue-in-cheek

All I know is after 4 or 5 homebrews I am generally immune to criticism!

As I enter his 4th sh!tty day of having a cold, on Thanksgiving no less, my speculation that homebrew boosts immunity has quickly turned to certainty that I spoke too goddam soon. Ugh.....

I haven't had so much as a cold in two years now. Not sure I can attribute that to homebrew, but I'd like to think so.