Health watch

Ale & hearty

by Chris Wright

If you plan to attend next week's New England Real Ale Exhibition (NERAX) but are troubled by thoughts of cirrhosis or excess flab, pick up the May issue of All About Beer, which makes a strong case for the health benefits of the odd pint. "Beer," goes one of the magazine's more rhapsodic passages, "does wonders for the heart, liberates the shy, warms the cockles of the spirit, is the drink of athletes, and is one of the purest foodstuffs in the world."

Okay, the cockles bit we knew, but the drink of athletes?

"Beer is absolutely, positively good for you," says editor Julie Johnson Bradford. Beer, it turns out, is full of vitamins and antioxidants, and its belly-distending properties have been greatly exaggerated. "You can get a cake belly or a nacho belly," Bradford says. "Beer has about as many calories as one of those itty-bitty pots of yogurt. And I know which one I'd rather have."

So why does beer get such a bad rap? "I think it's our puritanical attitude to alcohol," Bradford says. "Beer's put right in there with sex and rock and roll -- all the things that will send you to hell."

Then there's the class issue: "Beer is affordable, and Joe Sixpack is taken to be this slobby guy who drinks too much. You don't hear the same cracks about wine," Bradford says. "The big breweries don't help," she adds. "They don't advertise beer, they advertise how stupid men are."

Hence the May issue of All About Beer, which aims to absolve ale with an inventory of "everything that is healthy, pure, organically sound, environmentally responsible, and spiritually uplifting" about it.

Jeffrey Broadman, the general manager of NERAX sponsor Redbones, says he's heard beer might be good for you, but that isn't why he drinks it. "It makes you happier," he says. "And that goes a long way."

NERAX will run May 3 through 7 at the Dilboy VFW, 371 Summer Street, Davis Square, Somerville. Call (617) 628-2200 for details.

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