Can I ask a question...

[Spudrick68]

I have heard from various sources that in medieval times forward people drank beer because water was not guaranteed to be safe and they would get nutrients from the beer. Maybe I am being simple here, but if beer us a diuretic, how did they get sufficient liquid into their system?

 

[marion]

I think it was very weak beer, with enough alcohol to kill the germs in the water but not so strong it was that harmful. And you were going to die of TB or in childbirth sooner or later anyway so long term effects probably didn't matter that much.

 

[Spudrick68]

Thank you. That has always been on my mind.

 

[James_H]

If this needs to be put to the test I'm willing to be an experimental subject.

 

[coaly]

Back then, the beer was more like porridge in consistancy. Kids drank it too, and usually, women brewed it, and when it was ready, they'd hang a sign outside their place... which is where the pub signs of today derived.

 

[Cavynaut]

Yep, you're right Spudrick. The vast majority of the population were slightly pissed all of the time.

By the time of the First World War, beer was seen as a food, not just a way of passing the weekend!

 

[Layla]

I've often wondered that as our ancestors were slightly pissed all the time if this explains why they were more prone to believe in supernatural occurances and non rational beliefs.

 

[Quake42]

I've often wondered that as our ancestors were slightly pissed all the time if this explains why they were more prone to believe in supernatural occurances and non rational beliefs.

Yeah - this is regularly suggested as a partial explanation for visions of fairies, demons, etc. There is evidence too of hallucinogenic fungus growing on the breads eaten at the time.

Arguably the growing popularity of coffee, rather than booze, in the 18th century was a major factor in the explosion of technological and philosophical development during the period...

 

[Moooksta]

I've often wondered that as our ancestors were slightly pissed all the time if this explains why they were more prone to believe in supernatural occurances and non rational beliefs.

Or indeed the "booze culture" that exists in Blighty today!

"I'm p*ssed 'cos it's in my genes to be pi**ed!"

 

[James_H]

I vaguely remember a book review, probably in FT in which the book under discussion hypothesized something similar - ergo that booze was a leading factor in the decisions that have most affected world history.

 

[CarlosTheDJ]

...if beer us a diuretic, how did they get sufficient liquid into their system?

Because you still get more liquid from the beer than you lose, according to QI.

 

[_Lizard23_]

I do wonder if the 'dehydrating qualities of beer and coffee' thing isn't the UL to be honest.
I have many friends here in the tropics who drink nothing but coffee and alcoholic drinks for months on end in a very sweaty climate and seem ok.

It's all mostly water.

'Small beer' was safe to drink and pretty low in alcohol, probably a good option before safe drinking water.

Food is full of water too, I think it's this 8 glasses/6 litres/whatever the latest spam email says a day concept that is the UL.

Having said that, with all the chemicals etc in the modern diet/environment, it's probably not a bad idea to give the ol' kidneys something to work with?

(I try to drink a litre of water a day in a hot climate, but I probably manage one every other day on average. If I do feel very rough I mix it with rehydration salts (electrolytes) to try and actually rehydrate rather than just flush through. If I don't get enough fluid for a few days my ankles swell up - water retention is a counter-intuitive symptom of dehydration, they tell me. Apparently the stuff in drinking coconuts is even more 'isotonic' than the rehydration stuff ..... another myth?)

 

[Timble2]

The dehydrating qualities of coffee and tea are a myth. They are diuretics, but the amount of extra water you pee out is more than replaced by amount you take (assuming that you drink them made up in their usual manner). The body's not fussed where it gets water from, despite what people selling mineral water and the detox/bogus diet crowd tell you.

Don't know about coconuts.

 

[PeniG]

Beer and caffeine are diuretics, so you do retain less fluid with them than if you drank water only; however, whether this is a problem or not depends on a lot of different factors, including what else you're eating (salt not only makes you drink more, it retains water in the system) and how much you're exerting yourself. A modern, normally sedentary, person who works or plays harder than usual - say, mountain climbing or camping in the heat - and drinks iced tea, beer, or soda and dry food will probably dehydrate badly and will lose more nutrients than he takes in; a medieval peasant was in such a different situation, it's hard to imagine.

If your water gives you dysentery, you'll dehydrate much faster than you will from an ordinary diuretic!

Sometimes you even want to lose water; the women here know what I mean.

 

[_Lizard23_]

Don't know about coconuts.

This is sort of received wisdom that is popular here - I don't know how true it is.

If beer and coffee are less hydrating than water, it doesn't mean they are dehydrating. I was going to mention exercise level etc ... more energetic folk than sitting-in-the-bar people, and those with the all-too-common-around-here shits might well find water very helpful. It's fairly easy to end up with a couple of litres of saline on a drip here if you become 'ill'. Very sugary drinks (ie all soft drinks and most chai (also very sugary) in India) are also not very hydrating, I'm told, but again, probably better than taking/retaining no fluids at all.

I really can see that physical work and consuming nothing but 2/3% by volume 'small beer' and living off broth and bread would give you a standard 'middle ages' lifestyle life expectancy in northern Europe.

 

[OneWingedBird]

I think it was very weak beer, with enough alcohol to kill the germs in the water but not so strong it was that harmful.

I think they may have boiled the water first too, probably because someone realised they got a better result that way even if they didn't understand why or the other benefits of that, it gives the yeast a much better chance with any other bugs out of the picture.

 

[Spudrick68]

Someone mentioned alcohol poosibly being linked to medieval people seeing fairies ect... I certainly know that ergot, from rice was also a likely cause of that.