'Beer equals breasts', warns Russia

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Expert rubbishes anti-beer smear campaign

Drinkers beware. Men; if you drink beer your manhood is at stake. You’ll develop breasts and a feminine rump. And women, be warned; beer’s effect on the female form is just as horrifying; it will give you hideous jowls and a moustache.



At least that’s what the Russian government is trying to convince its citizens.

Following last month’s 200% hike on beer duties, the government is continuing its offensive against the country’s brewers, screening TV adverts (below) that allege dire consequences for the sexuality of beer-drinkers.

As well as putting blame for Russia’s shrinking population at the feet of drinks producers, the Russian government has claimed the involuntary sex change of beer-drinkers is prompted by the presence of phytoestrogens in hops.

“Absolute rubbish,” said Dr Denise Baxter of UK beverage research body Campden BRI.

“Yes, there’s a grain of scientific truth behind this but the amount of beer you would need to drink before you started growing breasts or I started to grow a moustache would be well over the 10 pints a night mark.”

It has been long established that hops contain phytoestrogens, plant compounds similar in structure to the sex hormone estrogen. However studies have shown that the hormonal effect on humans of phytoestrogens is limited.

“You don’t get an awful lot of hops in beer,” added Dr Baxter. “There are some companies that are selling hop extracts as health supplements. These are concentrated compounds but even then there’s no evidence whether or not these tablets actually do anything.”