Brews You Can Use III

Interesting piece at National Geographic about ancient culture's belief that beer is healthy. Link. The article mostly talks about Nubian beer that contained antibiotics, but here's a more generalizing excerpt from the conclusion:

Charlie Bamforth, a professor of biochemistry and brewing science at the University of California, Davis, said that beer has been a staple of the human diet for thousands of years and that the health benefits of beer were likely known, even if not scientifically explained, in ancient times.

"They must have consumed it because it was rather tastier than the grain from which it was derived. They would have noticed people fared better by consuming this product than they were just consuming the grain itself," he said.