Beer has been wrongly
blamed for causing lower abdominal obesity in men over the years. It is common
to hear people brazenly call big tummies, ‘beer’ belly. However, contrary to
this erroneous notion, experts at the First Nigerian Beer & Health
Symposium stated that people should blame other lifestyles like gluttony and
eating heavy meals close to when sleeping should be blamed for lower abdominal
obesity in people.
The experts drawn from
medical science, food technology, nutrition and related sciences answered many
questions while lecturing the public on the health and other benefits of beer
and proved with empirical evidence that beer is a healthy drink with lots
benefits for the human body, health and wellbeing.
Sponsored by Nigerian
Breweries on the bill of its flagship lager beer brand, Star Lager
the unique symposium
held inside the cosy bowels of the sprawling Iris & Jazmine Halls of Eko
Hotel & Suites in Victoria Island, Lagos and featured an array of top
celebrities in attendance, including talk show host and CEO of Ebony TV, Ms. Mo
Abudu, Editor of THISDAYStyle, Ms. Ruth Osime, Founder/President of
Brilla FM, Larry Izamoje among other top celebrities drawn from across
profession, industries and endeavours.
The boffins espoused the
health, nutrition and other benefits derivable from moderate consumption of
beer. Professor Tola Atinmo, a Professor of Human Nutrition in the College of
Medicine of the University of Ibadan and former President of the Nutrition
Society of Nigeria led the symposium with his presentation titled: “Beer as
Part of a Healthy Lifestyle.” He stated that there are numerous health
benefits derivable from moderate consumption of the beverage adding that a
healthy lifestyle is a desirable way of life, one which must focus more on
preventive health rather than the curative.
“A healthy lifestyle is achieved through the following conditions:
Healthy eating and drinking; adequate rest and stress management; physical and
spiritual exercise; abstinence from smoking, hygiene and sanitation. Indeed, a
healthy lifestyle is by choice and NOT by chance,” adding that people suffering
lower abdominal obesity (also known as pot or ‘beer’ belly) should blame other
attitudes in their lives than beer for their predicament.
Against longstanding beliefs that beer contains chemicals and is
injurious to health and do not go well with food as against alcoholic beverages
like wine, Prof. Atinmo stated that beer is made from four natural ingredients -
water, barley, hops and yeast and ranks as one of the world’s healthiest drinks
ever.
He said though it is common for people to
describe fat bellies as “beer bellies, empirical researches have proved beer is
not to be blamed for it. Citing empirical research findings and reports, Prof.
Atinmo espoused numerous health benefits derivable from moderate consumption of
beer adding that beer cannot be blamed for the so-called ‘beer belly’ and is no
potential obesogen, neither in men nor in women.
The question is, if it's not beer, what is to blame? The culprit,
according to health and nutrition experts, is calories. Several reports posit
that if you take in more calories with food and drink than you burn up with
exercise, you'll store the excess energy in fat cells. And unfortunately for
men, their abdominal fat cells seem to enlarge more readily than the abdominal
fat cells in women.
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