BREWERS' GUARDIAN: 'Beer equals breasts', warns Russia

'Beer equals breasts', warns Russia
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Rob Brown on 04 February, 2010 04:32:00
 
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.”