2017 Beer Rumor Refutal Forum Rules That Beer Bellies Shouldn't Be Blamed on Beer

According to Xinhuanet, the 2017 Beer Rumor Refutal Forum was held on January 17 in Beijing, in collaboration between the Cyberspace Administration of China, General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, Ministry of Agriculture, China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), Xinhuanet, and China Alcoholic Drinks Association, with people from Tsingtao, Yanjing, Snow, ABinBev, and Carlsberg attending.

China has had the highest beer consumption levels in the world for the past 14 years, consuming a quarter of the world's beers. As such important beer consumers, those involved in China's beer industry decided to arrange a forum to clarify some of the rumors going around about beer. 

Zhang Wujiu, the vice president of the China National Research Institute of Food & Fermentation Industries, refuted three rumors, including “1. a beer belly is the result of drinking beer, 2. hops extracts are addictive, and 3. drinking beer can cause gout.”

Zhang said, “a beer belly is not the result of drinking beer, but taking in too many calories. Women who don’t drink, but who don't have a high calorie intake, will also get a beer belly. A one-liter beer with 3.5 percent ABV has between 450 and 460 calories, which is lower than other products made from grains.”

There are also rumors that hops extracts are addictive, which Zhang denied. “Hops is one of the essentials to brew beer, providing bitterness and aromas, while hops extracts are drawn with carbon dioxide in high-pressure, which doesn’t mean it is addictive.”

And as for drinking beer causing gout, Zhang argued that “gout is caused by elevated levels of uric acid in the blood, and is a combination of diet and genetic factors. There’s no direct relation between drinking beer and getting gout. Normally, food items where 1kg food contains less than 250mg purine are known as low-purine foods, which can be eaten with no limit. Average domestic beers have 38-151mg purine per liter, which means ther are no problems from a medical respect.” According to Fang Jiaxi from ABinBev (Budweiser), “the domestic beer industry has suffered from negative growth for 25 months in a row. Hopefully these clarifications will help raising the reputation of beer.”

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Photos courtesy of Xinhuanet,memeaddicts