The beer vs. wine story just keeps a-brewin.

“The wine guys have stolen the high ground,” says Charles Bamforth, the Anheuser-Busch professor of food science at UC Davis. Yesterday, he spoke to a virtual audience of 1,000 during an online conference on beer hosted by the American Chemical Society. He championed beer as chemically complex and nutritionally valuable.

Historically, beer’s been a rather effective way of hydrating when your local body of water might be fouled by any number of unsanitary conditions. But it’s also functioned as a source of calories and nutrients. The hearty bock style of beer, for example, was first brewed by German monks looking to fortify themselves while they fasted during the season of Lent. Here are just a few of the nutrients you can find in whatever “liquid bread” you enjoy (in moderation, of course) this weekend:

Silicon: Bamforth says beer is “the single richest source” of this mineral in the human diet (you can also get it from beets, leafy vegetables, and whole grains). Moderate amounts of silicon are thought to be associated with healthy bone density, which can stave off osteoperosis. A 2009 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that moderate consumption of beer or wine was associated with higher bone mineral density.

B vitamins: Brewer’s yeast is a source for a number of these vitamins, including B3 (niacin) and B12 (corbalamin). There is, however, some evidence from animal models that the alcohol in beer interferes with the body’s ability to absorb these compounds (though many studies of vitamin deficiency in humans focus heavily on patients with chronic alcoholism).

Alcohol (ethanol): Moderate consumption of beer and wine has been linked to a decrease in risk for a number of cardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis. “The wine guys will say this is due to reservatrol”, Bamforth says, referring to the compound found in grape skin that is the source of much hubbub in the wine research community. Research suggests that ethanol may be the real key to the cardiovascular benefits of beer and wine, moderating levels of both cholesterol and certain proteins involved in inflammatory response mechanisms.

Though he’s a real booster for beer science, Bamforth admits that he’s not a homebrewer himself, preferring to keep his work life separate.

“If I was a brain surgeon, I wouldn’t go home and operate on my wife,” he says.

Image by Joe Marinaro via Flickr Creative Commons