Too Good to Be True? Beer That Makes You Look Younger

by Dr. Karen Latimer

It is FINALLY here … beer that makes you look better, younger even. This is contrary to everything I know about the beverage. In college, it was responsible for the bloated face and the freshman 15. Now, it is responsible for the occasional swollen eyes and the hard to loose last 5. Over the years, it has been blamed for more than a few poor decisions and a couple of kids. Now, they are telling me it has a chance to redeem itself. Now, after all we’ve been through together, beer is going to make me look younger!! You go, beer!

I wish that were true, but I’m skeptical.

The Japanese brewery Suntory, released a beer called “Precious” (which makes it sound like a stripper or stripper’s dog) that contains 2 grams of collagen per can. Collagen is a protein found in the connective tissue of our bodies; the bones, tendons, muscles and skin. It literally holds things together.

We hear about it a lot today as a beauty issue and product. Why do you get wrinkles and sagging? Your skin loses collagen as you age, especially after the age of 40, and these changes, we all resent and want to reverse, are the result. In response, companies have added to collagen to anti-aging lotions, dermatologists use collagen in fillers, and laser therapy aims at boosting our natural collagen production. Poorly advised actresses overdo it with the collagen to create swollen, pouty lips.

Can ingesting it directly provide benefit? Japanese women seem to think so. Reportedly, they are buying collagen supplements by the bucketful. The science says otherwise. Collagen is broken down after you eat it, and is not then in any form the skin can use to revitalize itself. Lotions with collagen don’t seem to work either, by the way. The molecules are too big to be absorbed.

Sorry! I wanted it to be true too! Beer, I will just have to continue to love you with all your flaws.