The ASA's drunk on dogma

The Thought Police are back.

The people who, 30 or so years ago, ruled that a great Anglo-Irish brewer could not claim that "Guinness Is Good For You" have now cracked down on the Hampshire family brewer George Gale.

What is Gale's crime against humanity?

It has said on its beer mats that beer is good for health.

This has so upset the intellectual midgets who run the Advertising Standards Authority that they have ordered Gales to pulp the offending beer mats immediately.

The ASA has "reprimanded" the brewer for making false claims.

I would like to make the following suggestion to the ASA: that they send representatives of their authority to the Brewing Faculty of the University of Munich.

This is based in the brewery known as Weihenstephan or Holy Stephan, founded in a monastery that dates from 746AD.

It's the oldest functioning brewery in the world.

Today it does more than just brew.

It trains brewers from all over the world.

It also carries out detailed research into the relationship between beer and health.

When I visited Weihenstephan last year I was told that the brewing faculty was working closely with a leading local hospital in Germany to research how the natural oils and resins in the hop plant can help fight cancer.

Would this information give the grand panjandrums of the ASA pause for thought?

I doubt it.

They are motivated solely by one aspect of beer, namely alcohol.

As alcohol can make people drunk, beer is therefore a bad thing.

Hence the determination of the ASA to expunge any suggestion that beer can be good for drinkers' health.

Beer has been around since 3000BC.

It was so important in the Old World of Ancient Egypt, Babylon and Mesopotamia that it encouraged nomadic people to settle down into organised communities to grow grain in order to make beer.

An American anthropologist, Alan Eames, has this to say about beer in the Old World:"A vitamin-rich porridge, daily beer drinking increased both health and longevity, reducing disease and malnutrition."

As beer is naturally rich in B vitamins, it played an important role for centuries in keeping people healthy and free from scurvy and other terrible illnesses.

It is only in comparatively recent times that water has been fit to drink.

For most of recorded history, beer, made from boiled water, has been the key form of alcohol that has kept people alive and well.

Modern research shows that moderate beer drinking can protect people against cardiovascular disease, cancer and osteoporosis.

The trade association The Brewers of Europe has produced a pamphlet showing that moderate beer consumption lowers harmful cholesterol levels in the blood and thus reduces the risk of heart attack.

Many people ­ including the fine brains at the ASA ­ know that vitamins in grain are good for health, but they cannot make the leap of the imagination to understand that the same vitamins are also present in beer.

Beer is rich in niacin, riboflavin and folate, which protect against cardiovascular disease.

Beer is also a source of antioxidants, which play a vital role in the fight against cancer.

As cancer has reached epidemic proportions in Britain as a result of bad diet and stress, anything that can help prevent people from falling prey to it should be welcomed.

A great deal has been made of the fact that red wine is high in antioxidants and is therefore beneficial in the fight against cancer.

Beer has a lower level of antioxidants than red wine but its smaller molecules are more easily absorbed by the body and are therefore just as beneficial.

Beer is high in potassium and low in sodium and as a result, produces the right balance for low blood pressure.

It is also rich in calcium and magnesium, which may help protect against gallstones and kidney stones.

Dr Thomas Stuttaford, who writes on medical matters for The Times, says in his book To Your Good Health: "For most people, alcohol in moderation is more likely to improve rather than damage their health.

Because alcohol is dangerous in excess, its advantages are often overlooked."

Ponder on those wise words, ASA, and let George Gale improve our health. www.protzonbeer.com