The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-06-15
NUTRIT|VE VALUE
OF BEER SET FORTH
Malt Beverages Said to Be Es-
sentiaIly Food and Should
Be So Rated

In the Literary Digest of May % ap-
pears an article on the nutritive value
of beer. which has caused no little
comment, particularly as this periodical
has exhibited heretofore a marked in
dependence of and Indifference toward
the liquor and brewing interests. The
Digest says:
FOOD VALUE OF BEER
Some years ago a great cutlery was raised
over Professor Atwater's discovery that alcohol
IN small quantities oxidized in the human
system and produced heat and was therefore
food. After q long and acrimonious discussion
in which the professor was called number OF
hard names. 1t dawned upon his detractors that
this scientific fact did not In any way deny
the evils of intemperanee or oppose their adYo-
eacy of total abstinence. II was indeed merely
scientific truth. with no moral bearing one
way or the other. A somewhat similar report
has Just been made public by special govern
ment commission in England. In which a good
word is uttered for the nutritive value OF beer
holic drink is opposed In this report which holds
that, when well and properly made, 1t Is a
cohol and a relatively large amount of nutrf-
tive material.
DRINKS AND EATS
This language is quoted by the Digest
from the London Hospital:
When man drinks good beer he drinks and
eats at the same time. just as when ne eats
bowl Of soup. The terms eat ana drink
are curiously but inconsistency used as con-
noting the difference between what Is merely
quenchinr our thirst and what is actually con-
suming nourishment. Our commissioners point
out might more properly be said 10 eat
beer than to eat certain kinds OF SOUP or, IN
deed, watermelon. Their report VIII enable mem
bers of the medical profession and the public
10 understand clearly what constitutes good
beer and where and how they may obtain IT,
Our commissioners properly drive home that
when a man drinks beer stout habitually he
Is not only drinking but eating, a fact which
had not been sufficiently recognized In recent
years These beverages contain all the elements
of lyrical diet, with the exception OF tat,
and in a proportion approximately physiological.
Our commissioners remind US that IL the worth
of food is measured by its calorimetric value
the fact is that glass of good ale Is approx.
mately as nourishing as glass OF mix, and
that 4 quart Of good beer is nearly equivalent
70 a quarter of a pound or bee1
INTERESTING COMPARISONS
The writer in the London periodical
after discussing the hypnotic action OF
beer and stout and their freedom from
pathogenic organisms as compared
with milk. goes on:
The fact is that good, properly made beer
is beverage containing a very small amount
Of alcohol and relatively large amount ..
fbsf beverages like ginger beer and kumlss con-
tain elfehtly more than i per cent OF aiconH
while there are beers on the market containing
only 2 OF per cent OF TINS oIus. oua I'm, IN
between beer, tea and beef tea. Those compari-
sons indicate that beer compares fayorabiy with
both these pfoducts, and our commissioners
nroneriv insist that IL would be difncuit TO md
meal at once simpler and more nutIitive ,nan
a crust of bread and cheese, OF preao anu Out
beer.