From: jon@hackcraft.net
Date: Tue Dec 09 2003 - 07:44:42 EST
> Despite your French notice about danger to the health (not to the
> sanity, though that might be true, too), Guinness was actually
> introduced as a health drink. I think the problem was that too many
> Irish people were spending their money on whiskey and not eating well,
> so Arthur Guinness introduced a drink that was so full of nutrients that
> you could live on it, and so heavy that you can't drink enough of it to
> get drunk!
Alas, you can easily drink enough of it to get drunk, even if you don't like
being drunk, since its delicious taste will lead you to exceed your limit.
Stout was indeed given as a health drink in small doses in certain cases, it's
one of the few foods that are a good source of both iron and calcium. However
the only doctor I've heard of recommending it in recent years was a bone
specialist who was trained in China; he professed a belief that Guinness was
why the Irish had thicker bones than the Chinese in his experience. There are
considerably more doctors who would say that if you were going to drink a beer
it should be stout, without going so far as to actually recommend it in and of
itself.
A pint of plain's your only man.
-- Jon Hanna | Toys and books <http://www.hackcraft.net/> | for hospitals: | <http://santa.boards.ie/>
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