Beer is found as a rich source of dietary silicon which is plays an important role in increasing mineral density of bones. Silicon is present in beer in dissolvable form. Dietary silicon as dissolvable ortho silicic acid is important for the growth of development of bones and connective tissues and beer intake is considers as important contributor for dietary silicon.
Osteoporosis is caused when there is low bone mass and degeneration of bone tissues. Based on these findings, some studies suggest moderate beer consumption may help fight osteoporosis. The researchers examined a variety of raw material samples and found little change in the silicon content of barley during the malting process. The majority of the silicon in barley is in the husk, which is not affected greatly during malting. The malts with the higher silicon contents are pale colored which have less heat stress during the malting process.
The darker products, such as the chocolate, roasted barley and black malt, all have substantial roasting and much lower silicon contents than the other malts for reasons that are not yet known. The hop samples analyzed showed surprisingly high levels of silicon with as much as four times more silicon than is found in malt. However, hops are invariably used in a much smaller quantity than is grain. Highly hopped beers, however, would be expected to contain higher silicon levels.
Dr. Bamforth concludes, “Beers containing high levels of malted barley and hops are richest in silicon. Wheat contains less silicon than barley because it is the husk of the barley that is rich in this element. While most of the silicon remains in the husk during brewing, significant quantities of silicon nonetheless are extracted into wort and much of this survives into beer.”
