Beer: Canned vs Bottled Beer. Whats Healthier?

Whats healthier?  Canned vs glass bottled?  

Everyone is concerned about the type of drink they have; whether it is “light” beer or “sugar free” mixers, but rarely is any attention given to the type of container it is served in. If you are going to party; a simple decision could dramatically reduce the amounts of toxins that enter your body which can negatively impact your body-fat, cognition, aging, hairline and vitality.

Canned beer is lined with a plastic coating to prevent the aluminum, metallic taste in the beer.  This plastic liner contains a high concentration of BPA or bisphenol-A.  BPA is a toxin that has the potential to cause serious health problems over time. BPA was just recently banned in all children’s drinking cups and bottles by the FDA, yet it is still in beer and soda cans.  When beer is transported to the liquor store it can vary wildly in temperature and sitting in extremely hot trucks can dramatically increase the amount of BPA leeched into your beer or beverage.  A recent Harvard study showed that eating just one can of soup per day for 5 days increased the amount of BPA in the urine by 1200%! Some people drink 6, 8, or even 12 cans of beer in one night.  The BPA level after one weekend could be astronomically high.  Binge drinking of this type clearly has inherent risks and health detriments of it’s own, but that will be a blog post for another day…

It is really unknown how much BPA is being lodged in your vital organs and other tissues creating silent conditions for disease later in life.  I don’t want to be a guinea pig so I stopped drinking and eating out of plastic a long time ago. I believe BPA accelerates aging and reducing your overall appearance.

Here are the top 5 reasons to avoid canned beers and soft drink chasers and switch to glass bottles.  

1) Canned beer could be making you fat.  Not because of the beer, but because of the BPA in the liner has been linked with obesity in several studies.  In an analysis in the Journal of the American Medical Association of 3,000 teens, those with the highest concentration of BPA were 2.6 times more likely to be obese. BPA could be partially responsible for the “Beer Belly”. 

2) The “other ingredients” in canned beer could be lowering your GPA.  BPA has been shown to alter the structure and function of your brain1.  It may actually be impairing your brains ability to function at the highest level.  So this could hurt your ability to learn and memorize things and perform your best on exams.  Getting drunk numerous times can often create a brain fog but depending on what container you are drinking out of could be making it even hard to get better grades. 

3) BPA is a xenoestrogen or synthetic estrogen toxin that doesn’t belong in the body.  BPA acts like a synthetic version of the female hormone estrogen.  This is of course is terrible for guys to feel your best and could be causing serious health problems with females later in life.  Since BPA acts as a xenoestrogen  it may be causing hair loss in people who drink and eat out of plastic containers a lot.  Guys, if you want to keep your hair and maintain peak muscle mass avoid the xenoestrogen BPA every chance you can.        

4) BPA increases oxidative stress and inflammation in the liver2.  Your liver is the main organ for detoxification especially alcohol.  If you damage your liver then toxins start to back up and aging accelerates.  For all you biology students, it causes mitochondrial dysfunction so this is a very, very bad thing.  Drinking alcohol already puts a severe burden and damages your liver.  Drinking out of plastic lined cans does further damage to your liver and sets yourself up for diseases down the road.  You can party but you can do it without exposing yourself to un-needed toxins.    

5) Drinking out of glass TASTES BETTER!  This is more than likely due to the fact that there is no BPA residue in the beer.  So you are left with what you intended to drink the whole time…..just beer.

If You Like to Party Make This Simple Switch

If you want to avoid excessive toxins while you are partying; avoid excessive canned beers, canned mixers, plastic cups and drink out of glass bottles and glass mugs if possible. Of course it is impossible to play “beerpong” or flippy cup” with glass cups, but drink out of glass as often as possible.  Avoid aluminum beer bottles because these also contain BPA.  Ultimately, the healthiest alcohol beverage is red wine, preferably “organic” or without pesticides and add sulfites.  Red wine always comes in glass and contains antioxidant rich compounds that actually benefit the body.  One or two glasses benefit the body and anything over actually creates free radical damage or becomes toxic. 

How Do I Detox BPA?

A thorough detoxification program is discussed in my book “The Natural Truth About College”, but one simple thing you can do is to increase your intake of cruciferous vegetables.  Specifically the vegetables broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and brussel sprouts.  These antioxidant rich foods contain a compound that helps metabolize xenoestrogens, keeping you healthy and lean. 

Always drink responsibly.

 For more information go to http://www.NaturalTruthAboutCollege.com    

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1) Duke University Medical Center. “BPA may affect the developing brain by dis­rupting gene regulation.” Sciencedaily, 25 Feb 2013. Web.15 Apr. 2013

2) J Korean Med Sci. 2012 June; 27(6): 644–652.