NBWA staffers address dieticians at conference

Modern Brewery Age,  Oct 31, 2005  

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This week, staff from the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) attended a conference of more than 10,000 food and nutrition professionals in St. Louis, MO. At the event, the NBWA personnel worked to inform registered dieticians, nutritionists and others on the potential health benefits of moderate beer consumption.

For the past several years, NBWA has been a regular exhibitor at the American Dietetic Association's (ADA) Food and Nutrition Convention and Expo. This year, NBWA sponsored a trade show booth at the event to distribute information about the potentially positive health benefits from moderate beer consumption.

At the booth, in addition to NBWA staff, two respected dieticians--Hillary Wright, MEd, RD, LDN; and Jackie Newgent, RD--were on hand to discuss health research regarding beer with the dietician attendees.

NBWA also sponsored a seminar for attendees regarding cooking with beer. Local St. Louis chef and owner of Riddles Penultimate Cafe, Andy Ayers, showed attendees how to spice up a meal by using beer as a cooking ingredient.

"The ADA conference is a great opportunity to educate nutrition professionals on the wide body of research suggesting health benefits of moderate beer consumption," said Public Affairs Director Michelle Semones. "The more they know about beer's nutritional profile, the better prepared they will be to counsel patients on how beer may fit into a healthy lifestyle."

A survey of dieticians taken by NBWA at the 2004 ADA convention revealed that 64% are questioned by their patients about alcohol consumption. "With that in mind, NBWA distributed a health white paper, prepared by Wright, providing a compilation of recent health research regarding beer," Semones said.

The paper included a nutritional analysis of regular and light beer and a chart explaining the caloric differences between beer and other alcohol beverages.

"Publicizing independent research that suggests moderate beer consumption may have health benefits is just one of the ways that the NBWA is fighting for beer's fair share of the adult consumer's stomach," Semones added.

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