Drinking beer has had a very negative connotation in years past. Getting a dad bod and pre diabetes isn’t on anyone’s list of a fun time. As a result people are wondering if mead is a healthier alternative.
Most of the time, mead is a healthier alternative to beer. Beer is made with malt sugar and mead is made with honey. Most honey is a healthier alternative to other sugars. Another thing going for mead over beer is that in general beer is made with hops while mead is not. Some would consider hops unhealthy because of the potential for endocrine disruption.
The differences between mead and beer open up a whole conversation on health. There’s a ton of information to cover regarding additives, alcohol percentage, sugar content, and history.
What does it mean to be healthy?
What exactly does it mean to be healthy when comparing mead and beer? We’d need a way to compare apples to apples because there’s so many variables that it’s hard to compare. If you’re someone who regularly consumes 10 mead bottles a day you’re not going to be more healthy than someone who drinks a couple beers.
Obviously the amount of alcohol you consume is going to be the major factor in determining health as overconsumption of alcohol is very unhealthy. So for the purposes of comparison, let’s assume that we’re talking about drinking equal amounts.
It’s also up for debate just how much of an effect these factors have in the final product. It’s possible that health factors between the two are so miniscule that it’s not even worth thinking about.
So bear in mind while reading that the “health” differences between mead and beer, while present, might be too low to even care about.
Gluten Free
One of the major things that makes mead a clear winner in the health debate against beer is that mead is gluten free. Mead uses honey to ferment instead of grains so naturally it doesn’t have gluten in it.
Great news for everyone who was looking for an alcoholic beverage without gluten, but how many of those people are there? It turns out that it could be anywhere from .5-6% of the population. That’s a relatively small number of people worldwide.
While it’s great for people who are gluten intolerant, it’s not really a factor for a majority of the population of earth, but at least they don’t have to drink sorghum beer now.
Honey is healthy
Honey is rich in a number of nutrients that promote health that other fermentables lack. Honey is rich in polyphenols and antioxidants.
Antioxidants help to reduce the reactive oxygen species in your body. This can build up in your cells and cause damage that can result in aging, diabetes and heart disease.
While eating honey will raise your blood sugar levels, it’s found that eating honey will raise levels of a hormone adiponectin which will help regulate your blood sugar levels better.
Raw honey contains propolis, a resin that bees produce from tree sap and plants that has been shown to improve cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
Honey has a cough suppressant effect that has been shown in some cases to be stronger than diphenhydramine. Not only does it suppress your cough but will also shorten cough duration when you are sick.
There’s only one problem with all of this: does any of this translate into your mead? I would say it depends. It’s possible that these chemicals are either fully or partially destroyed in the boiling process of the honey. However, many people make mead without boiling their honey to keep more of the natural flavors in the final product. This may also lead to a more healthy mead because it retains the healthy aspects of the honey.
Hops
Almost all of the beers on the market contain some level of hops as part of the recipe. Hops contain similar compounds as honey that will have various medicinal effects such as ability to treat insomnia, anxiety, and depression. However, beer tends to be boiled to a high level so it’s arguable whether these compounds make it into the final batch.
However, another compound found in hops is the concentrated oil from the leaves that can act as an endocrine disruptor. Is it strong enough to lower testosterone in men? Studies haven’t been done and it’s inconclusive. That being said, modern beers that are in style right now are ipas that are almost more hop than beer. You open the can and get a whiff of pure hop.
Generally I tend to steer clear of any kind of testosterone lowering compounds at all whether there are studies done or not. Thankfully, most mead recipes have zero hops in them if you’re concerned about this side effect.
Alcohol content
Alcohol itself has a ton of negative health effects that you want to steer clear of. The fact is that if you’re drinking at all, you’ll run into these. Mead usually is comparable to wine when it comes to alcohol by volume. Usually they are around 10-14 percent.
Beer usually runs somewhere from 4 percent for light beers up to 7-8 percent for heavy beers. Your standard beer comes in around 5 percent. Comparing this to mead, you’ll have half the alcohol content. However, when it comes to drinking beer, usually people tend to drink more beer because it’s so low in alcohol that they have the perception they can drink more.
Think back to any time you drank too much and it usually coincides with drinking too many beers.
Can you over drink on mead? Absolutely. Due to the higher abv, cost, and the fact that you’re usually drinking mead out of a big wine bottle, you may feel inclined to drink less than beer.
Additives
One of the unique things about Mead is that there usually aren’t any additives that have potentially unhealthy side effects.
For example, a lot of beers that are commercially available cut their malt with either corn sugar or rice sugar. Generally these are lower quality sugars that provide zero health benefits and make the taste pretty awful.
Other additives such as preservatives and clarifying agents are also added that could cause problems.
While unlikely to cause problems in a majority of drinkers, sulphites are added to beer to help with shelf life, bacterial infections, and odors. These sulphites can cause an allergic reaction to some people who are sensitive to them.
Other additives like isinglass, egg whites, bentonite, or gelatin are added sometimes to clear the brew before bottling. Whether these cause any problems or not are up for debate but I generally don’t see them as being that big of a problem unless you’re allergic to eggs or something.
Bottom Line
Mead seems to be healthier than beer. This is largely due to the health effects of honey over malt as the primary fermentable in the brew. It’s also due to beer having hops as one of its main ingredients while mead doesn’t. Winner: mead.