Welcome
Address by Mr. Nicolaas Vervelde, MD/CEO, Nigerian Breweries Plc, at the 1st
Nigerian Beer and Health Symposium at Eko Hotels Lagos, on 4 November, 2014
Distinguished
ladies and gentlemen,
I
am very delighted to welcome you to this very important symposium. Let me also quickly thank you for finding the
time to honour our
invitation, especially at this very busy end of year. I can assure you upfront that the time will
be well spent and the knowledge from today’s symposium will be very rewarding.
As
you already know, we are here today to discuss an interesting
subject of beer
and health. I am not the subject expert
and very shortly, the experts will take the floor. However, I do know a few things about beer,
which I thought I should share with you this morning.
While
technology and innovation have changed the way we brew beer and enjoy it today,
the many beers in the world, which number over 40,000 are still made from the
same four basic natural ingredients – hops, barley, water, yeast. Beer is by
far, the world’s oldest recorded
alcoholic beverage. It has a very rich and
fascinating history. Beer, as you will see later in the various presentations,
has so many positive qualities and benefits.
With
such rich history and apparent popularity of beer in Nigeria, why you may ask,
are we sponsoring this symposium? The
reason is quite simple.
Firstly,
Nigerian Breweries has a huge stake in the industry as market leaders. Through the increase of shareholder value,
generation of employment, creation of business opportunities, attracting
foreign direct investments, sustained CSR investments, generation of revenue
for government at all levels as well as other linkage effects, Nigerian
Breweries has been making enormous contributions to economic development.
Nigerian Breweries has remained one of the main drivers of manufacturing growth
in the country.As at 2013, Nigerian Breweries supported close to 300,000 jobs
in the value chain and contributed billions of Naira in taxes to various tiers of
government. It is therefore in the interest of all to support the industry
through proper understanding of its social and economic benefits.
Secondly,
with all its rich history and associated positives and benefits, its role in
the social, cultural and economic development of Nigeria, is often under-stated
and the story is little appreciated by audiences that are daily overwhelmed by
negative images, mostly wrongly attributed to beer.
Many
adults in this beautiful planet like to enjoy a well-chilled glass of beer now
and then. Certainly, I do myself. But
daily, we get confronted with the negative images of wrongful use of beer. The prevalence of these images and the
subsequent discussions around them and the negative perception impact on beer,
have the capacity for serious impact on this beautiful product. The negative images are reinforced daily,
with many unsubstantiated misconceptions over the years.
Nigerian
Breweries, as leaders in the industry, has a responsibility to improve the
reputation of our category by sharing and celebrating all that’s wonderful
about beer. Moderate consumption of
beer, can be a source of immense pleasure.
As you will see later in this symposium, it can also be part of a
positive healthy lifestyle.
Of course, we do recognize that there is a clear distinction between moderate consumption and possible abuse of beer. Alcohol abuse whether from beer or from any other alcoholic beverage, is a problem. It has always been in existence. It is not to our advantage to promote it as it makes our business unsustainable. Promoting moderation and responsible consumption is in our long term interest of sustainability. Nigerian Breweries is already doing a lot in the direction of promoting responsible consumption. A few examples will suffice here:
- NB
has partnered with FRSC to run “Don’t drink and drive” campaign
-
All NB beer brands carry a drink
responsibly message
-
The Heineken brand has run the
“Sunrise belongs to moderate drinkers” campaign.
- The Heineken brand is currently running
the “Dance more, drink slow” campaign.
In
the end, it is all about responsibility and moderation.
Distinguished
ladies and gentlemen, my job is done in welcoming you. I wish you a pleasant experience during this
symposium.
BEYOND
ALCOHOL, ON TO THE BENEFITS OF DRINKING BEER
Professor Bankole Omotoso.
Let
me commence this contribution to this historical conference on Beer and the
Healthy Lifestyle by expressing my gratitude to organisers of this symposium,
for the invitation to chair and speak at this occasion. I am particularly
gratified that that at last the Nigerian beer drinkard (as the Nigerian writer
would have put it) is being served by a Nigerian conference. Beer has been an
important component of a healthy life style in human history for over four
thousand years. It continues to be.
My
particular interest in beer and other beverages such as palm wine and grape
wine began long ago, as a boy sent by my grandfather to harvest the juice of
the palm tree which had been cut down and laid horizontal for easy collection.
Later travels and further immersion in lifestyles led to particular passion for
the ultimate relationship between alcohol and beer.
Each
area of human manipulation and invention contains an abiding puzzle. With car
making it is always to invent a car that would, like the horse that inspired
the automobile, move itself without a rider. The invention of automatic
transmission brought that day forward. Today self-driving cars are being tested
and we might have soon self-driving cars competing with life horses on the race
course!
In
the field of aeroplanes, it would be the one that would fly without a pilot.
Today, drones fly past birds to do what they need to do. What then is the
abiding puzzle in the case of beer brewing? Before I go into this I want to
quote some of the major ways that Beer and Beer Brewing has enriched the
languages and cultures of the world.
“It
was the accepted practice in ancient Babylonia 4000 years ago that for a month
after the wedding, the bride’s father would supply his son-in-law with all the
mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer, and because their calendar was lunar
based, the period was called the ‘honey moon’ – or what we know today as the
honey moon.”
“Before
thermometers were invented, brewers would dip a thump or finger into the mix to
find the right temperature for adding yeast. Too cold, and the yeast would not
grow. Too hot, and the yeast would die. This thumb in the beer is where we get
the phrase ‘rule of thumb’.”
“In
English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So, in Old England, when
customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their own pints
and quarts and settled down. It’s where we get the phrase mind your p’s and
q’s!”
“Beer,
we are told, was the reason the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. It’s clear
from the Mayflower’s log that the crew did not want to waste beer looking for a
better site. The log goes on to state that the passengers were hasted ashore
and made to drink water so that the seamen might have the more beer.”
“After
consuming a bucket or even two of a vibrant brew they called ‘aul’ or ‘ale’,
the Vikings would head fearlessly into battle often without armour or even
shirts. In fact, the term ‘berserk’ means ‘bare shirt’ in Norse, and eventually
took on the meaning of their wild battles.”
“In
1740 Admiral Vernon of the British fleet decided to water-down the navy’s rum.
Needless to say, the sailors were not too pleased and called Admiral Vernon Old
Grog, after the stiff wool grogram coats he wore. The term ‘grog’ soon began to
mean watered down drink itself. When you were drunk on this grog, you were
‘groggy’, a word still in use today.”
I
remember that one particular brand of beer Becks had been so domesticated that
when my Uncle called for his Abeke I knew where to go and bring her!
Now
to go back to that abiding puzzle mentioned in the case of the automobile and
aeroplane industries, which is still to be solved resolved in the industry of
brewing of beer. What is the correct alcoholic content to make beer the best
beer can be?
Whoever
can discover that formula would have done in beer brewing what the automobile
and aeroplane industries have done for the pleasure car and the aircraft?
Brewers have reduced the alcohol content drastically to create Beer Lite. At
other times brewers have increased the alcohol content to hasten intake and
effective inebriation! And there has been non-alcoholic beer as well.
In
the rest of this presentation I wish to look at the health benefits of each one
of these versions of beer: the non-alcoholic, the lite and the high alcoholic
content. But let me sound a note of warning. All cultures preach one particular
central virtue over and above every other virtue. In the Yoruba culture it is
possible to state categorically that moderation, iwotunwosi, the washing of the
left hand and of the right hand, is the singular pillar of existence as
contained in the Ifa Divination poems “highly valued by the Yoruba as the
guardian of Yoruba culture, the wisdom of the ages and the teachings of the
ancestors and the divinities.”
In
terms of drink, “to drink moderately is to drink within the limits set by your
health, the society in which you live and your obligations towards your family
and friends: this means 1 – 3 drinks a day for most men. Women are more
sensitive to alcohols, so they are advised to drink less than men: 1 – 2 drinks
a day.” This amounts to a quarter litre glass having between 4 and 5 per cent
alcohol 10g by volume. This approximates to beer lite.
Alcohol
and the natural raw materials from which beer is brewed are good to drink and
are also good for the health. They are not health risks when taken moderately.
Foods and drinks consumed by human beings contain both bad fat and good fat.
When alcohol is consumed there is an increase of good fat. This is the fat that
the body can easily convert to energy. Bad fat has a habit of sitting at the
neck or at the guts or anywhere else that would give it space. Alcohol does not
contain this bad type of fat.
There
is also medical evidence that alcohol consumption has a blood thinning effect
and this leads to the reduction of the tendency of blood to form clots. As we
know now blood clots prevent the flow of blood to the heart and the brain thus
causing massive heart attacks. It is also true that moderate alcohol
consumption reduces the inflammation of the inner linings of the nerves as well
as a lower level of insulin resistance. Any alcohol, whether sourced from beer
or wine or any other beverage, protects the heart. How much and how often must
be governed by the ruled of moderation spelt out earlier. The consumption of
beer with a meal is considered a better way rather than drinking on an empty
stomach.
Specifically,
there are some illnesses and diseases which can be prevented, minimized or
completely prevented by the consumption of alcohol. Some of these are Diabetes
Mellitus, weakening of the bones (osteoporosis) as a result of the increase in
blood of oestrogen associated with alcohol consumption in women. Others are
Dementias which is the decline of cognitive ability with the advance of age. Parkinson’s
disease, Gallstones and Kidney stones are other illnesses.
These
illnesses and diseases are helped by the presence of flaveroid and silicon,
minerals present in beer. Moderate consumption of alcohol creates a feeling of
well-being, reducing stress and tension.
Moderate
consumption of beer for general health effects:
Beer
drinking can make a positive contribution to a healthy diet because of its
wholesome raw materials used in brewing beer. These natural raw materials are
cereals, hops, yeast and water. There are soluble fibres derivable from the
cell walls of barley which are good for human health. All these natural
materials contain antioxidants, vitamins especially of the B variation, silicon
and fibre. Beer is generally on the average is 93% water. As a result beer is a
thirst quencher of the first order with low alcohol. Research on alcohol-free
beer has shown that these benefits are also present as well. This would mean
that it is not only beer that has alcohol content that gives these benefits.
So, beyond alcohol, the potential beneficial effects of the natural ingredients
of beer are likely to apply to non-alcoholic beer.
Going
further on barley’s soluble fibre, two glasses of beer contains in average 10%
of the recommended daily intake of soluble fibre. Some beers can provide up to
30% of this food item. Fibre slows down digestion and absorption of food and
reduces cholesterol levels. Cholesterol as we all know or should know helps the
risks of heart disease.
People
who drink beer have protection from bacterium helicobacter pylori, a bacterium
known to cause the majority of stomach ulcers and may be a risk of stomach
cancer.
Depending
on style and process of brewing antioxidants present in beer from malt (barley)
and hops as ingredients can be high or low. It is generally believed that
antioxidants may play a role in the protection against cancer through their
action against free radicals. Antioxidants also inhibit blood clotting.
Vitamins
and Minerals:
Present
in beer and various forms of vitamin B: macin, riboflavin (vitamin B2)
pyroduxine (vitamin B6) folate (vitamin B9) and cabolamin (vitamin B12).
Some
of the minerals present in beer are high potassium, low sodium, low calsium and
rich magnesium which protects against gall stones and kidney stones formation.
Silicon intake is associated with healthy bones.
Hops:
Small
quantities of the flower from hops are used to preserve beer as well as to
flavour it. Beer is the only dietary source of hops and flavonoids found in
hops helps to fight cancer.
Beer
does not contain fat or cholesterol and it is low in free sugar. Any calories
which beer contain, comes from the alcohol content. And as mentioned earlier
research into non-alcoholic beer shows that the benefits derivable from beer
with alcohol are also found in beer without alcohol.
I
would like to bring these comments to a close by quoting a poem that should be
familiar to all of us. It is the sum total of what I have been saying in the
last so many minutes:
“I
am not scared of goblins or ghouls and things that go bump in the night
Werewolves
and bats and witches and such do not give me much of a fright.
But
there is this one thing that scares me to death and only this one thing I fear
And
that’s to open my fridge at night and find that I’m all out of beer!”
Professor
Bankole Omotoso.
Thursday
30.10.2014
Stellenbosch,
Cape Town,
Western
Cape,
South
Africa.
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