produce Hashish and Marijuana, is a close relative of hops. The relaxing effect that beer has on the
consumer comes from the hops ingredient hopein, among other substances. Hopein is a form of morphine.
With the exception of Muslim countries, beer consumption is legal, yet taking morphine, marijuana, or
other hallucinogenic drugs is treated as a criminal act. If a person regularly gets drunk by drinking large
quantities of beer, he is not less “out of himself” or physically and mentally incompetent than he would be
under drug-induced hallucination. It would not make a difference whether a hallucinating drug user runs
over an innocent pedestrian or a drunk who has had a few bottles of morphine-containing beer. If a person
is caught driving while drunk, he will receive punishment by law. If he gets drunk and is not driving, the
law cannot touch him. If someone becomes violent under the influence of beer, it is due to reasons similar
to a drug user becoming violent under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs.
Apart from their mind-altering effects, hops are known to work as an anti-aphrodisiac, suppressing
sexual drive and performance in men. Hops contain the female sex hormones daidzein and genistein,
which are generally used to fatten calves, sheep, and chickens. Contrary to general belief, the body cannot
utilize any of the numerous calories contained in whiskey or other alcoholic beverages for producing
energy or increasing fat reserves. Beer contains another female hormone, an estrogen, which is also
formed in a woman’s ovaries. The typical beer belly and breast growth of a beer drinker is caused by
these female hormones and has nothing to do with beer calories.
Besides the already mentioned mind-altering chemicals in beer, the malt in beer also has a substance in
it that influences the psyche; it is called hordenin. Hordenin results from the germination of barley and is
related to the well-known stimulants ephedrine and mescaline. It also has a strong diuretic effect, which
causes frequent urination, especially during the night. To process one glass of beer, the body’s cells have
to supply at least three glasses of water. Hence beer can cause severe dehydration such as is typically
found among heavy beer drinkers. When the beer drinker’s body signals dehydration, he may be tempted
to drink even more beer, which increases dehydration further.
All these factors may result in weight gain, tissue acidification, retention of toxins, and swelling of the
body. In addition, if the beer production uses extremely “hard” water, rich in inorganic (metallic) calcium,
the result may be a high incidence of kidney stones and kidney problems among beer drinkers. Also,
regular consumption of all alcoholic beverages causes gallstones in the liver and gallbladder. Alcohol is
extremely acidic which alters the pH of the alkaline bile to the point of thickening, leading to blockage of
bile ducts. Thus, alcohol consumption can become a cause for any illness in the body.
Solving The Red Wine Mystery
Despite what we know today about the destructive effects of alcoholic beverages on liver and brain
cells, you may have been advised to drink a glass of red wine or two on a daily basis to benefit your
arteries. This advice, however, is misleading. It makes you believe that drinking alcohol is not so bad for
you after all, whereas in truth it is not the alcohol in the wine that is beneficial for the heart. A study led
by Dr. John Folts of the University of Wisconsin Medical School found that 8 or 10 ounces a day of the
purple variety of grape juice has a potent effect on the blood cells called platelets, making them less likely
to form clots that can lead to heart attacks.
A group of natural substances found in many kinds of foods, called flavonoids, seem to have powerful
anti-clotting properties. They are amply present in purple grape juice and, to a lesser extent, also in red
wine. Purple grape juice might even be more potent than aspirin, which is widely recommended as a way
of warding off heart attacks. The study found that both aspirin and red wine slow the activity of blood
platelets by about 45 percent, while purple grape juice dampens them by 75 percent. It is not clear,